James is one of the most senior out gay leaders in Canada’s financial services sector, and has been out in the workplace and engaged in LGBTQ+ organizations for his entire professional career. Currently, he is the Executive Sponsor of the Pride@Wawanesa ERG, supporting through mentorship the group’s founders, and speaking at inaugural meetings as chapters were formed across the country. He has supported Pride events at Wawanesa and across the insurance industry broadly by delivering a podcast, being featured in a magazine article on industry support of the LGBTQ+ community, and serving as a panelist for an LGBTQ+ panel on the ‘Voices of Inclusion’ series on diversity in the Canadian insurance sector. On Wawanesa’s Executive Committee, James advocated for creating a diversity and inclusion team and has led initiatives to highlight LGBTQ+ and other diversity issues within his teams. He also serves as a mentor to LGBTQ+ law students through the Canadian Bar Association, where he previously served as a director. As the incoming Chair of the Insurance Bureau of Canada’s Regulation Standing Committee, he’s leading a call to include the LGBTQ+ community as a recognized group for diversity disclosures by Canadian companies.
