“If our client base is diverse, then we need to be diverse.” That’s not branding – it’s the bottom line, according to Suzanne Cardinal, commercial lines manager at Ontario West and Bill Blaney Insurance Brokers. And during Pride Month in Ontario, that truth resonates even more: visibility isn’t about celebration. It’s about whether people see themselves in the companies they work for – or walk away before they ever apply.
Cardinal has watched the insurance sector evolve over her career. “DEI is definitely near and dear to me as someone who came up with aspirations of being in a leadership role as a woman,” she said. “When I started in this business, there were a lot of white-haired guys, and not many examples of females in leadership.”
Change has come, but it’s been slow. “That is changing slowly. But it is changing,” she said. And when the pace of progress lags, the business risks rise. Client demographics have already shifted. So have employee expectations.
“Especially with auto insurance, you have to write everybody, so you get everybody,” Cardinal said. “Our clients are a very diverse group of people.” Many brokerages, however, haven’t kept pace internally. That disconnect shows up in blind spots, missed opportunities – and a talent pipeline that too often runs dry.
Representation isn’t just about numbers, said Cardinal. It’s about what candidates see before they even click “Apply.” “When you have people who would identify themselves as a DEI person, let’s say, in leadership roles, then people will come and apply for jobs with you,” she said. “Whereas if you don’t… you are putting yourself at a disadvantage to hire really amazing people because they won’t come work for you.”
Pride Month underscores that visibility isn’t just an HR talking point. It’s transparent, public, and often decisive. “With the advent of LinkedIn and socials and all that, people will go and see who works for you,” she said.
This is especially urgent in an industry still shaped by legacy leadership. When potential hires scan company pages and see no gender diversity, no LGBTQ+ leaders, and no visible inclusion markers, they often conclude - accurately or not – that there’s no upward path. That perception is hard to reverse.
Some brokerages have gained ground by leaning into cultural fluency. Cardinal pointed to firms aligned with the Chinese Canadian Insurance Professionals Association as proof that inclusive hiring isn’t charity - it’s strategy.
“If we have a more diverse workforce and we employ people who can speak in different languages or understand the cultural difference between buying insurance in Syria versus buying it in Canada… it is going to make your customer service jobs so much easier, unbelievably easier,” she said.
Language barriers, cultural norms, documentation gaps – these aren’t edge cases. They’re daily obstacles for clients. And they require teams who can respond without hesitation or friction.
As a founding member of the DEI committee at the Insurance Brokers Association of Ontario (IBAO), Cardinal helped create practical frameworks to embed inclusion into brokerage operations. But policy, she emphasized, is only the start.
“We started out with education – putting education together that brokerages could access. How do I put a DEI policy together? How do I do all those things?” she said.
The committee soon took on structural barriers. One focus was simplifying insurance licensing for newcomers, in collaboration with the Insurance Bureau of Canada and Ontario’s Ministry of Transportation.
“The rules for the different things didn’t all align, which made an already confusing thing for a new Canadian even more confusing,” she said. “So we’ve worked to put together a committee with input from all the different stakeholders to try to streamline that.”
Those changes are now taking shape. “One insurer in particular has already come out with a new list of what they’ll accept as prior proof of insurance,” she said. “And the years of credit that they’re going to give are going to align with the years of credit that the ministry gives.”
Inclusion doesn’t stop at policy. Cardinal praised the value of groups like LINK Canada (2SLGBTQ+ Insurance Network), CABIP (Canadian Association of Black Insurance Professionals) and CCIPA. These aren’t performative - they’re talent incubators.
“We definitely encourage our people to belong to those groups as well, if they so choose. That’s where you really see the leaders,” she said.
And during Pride Month, as companies raise flags and post messages, LGBTQ+ professionals in the industry are watching closely. Are they represented in succession plans? On executive teams? On hiring panels? Because if they’re not – clients and candidates will notice.
