FP Canada announced on Monday the newest recipients of the FP Canada Fellow distinction.

Created in 2011 and formerly called the Fellow of FPSC, the FP Canada Fellow distinction recognizes those who’ve made significant contributions to furthering FP Canada’s mandate to advance professional financial planning, a release said.

The 2019 recipients are Jocelyne Houle-LeSarge and Gilles Sinclair.

Houle-LeSarge is president, CEO and secretary of the Institut québécois de planification financière (IQPF). Her contributions to financial planning are evident through her “unwavering leadership within the profession in Quebec, and her achievements related to the unification of the profession in Canada,” the release said.

Houle-LeSarge has played a leading role in numerous joint projects between the IQPF and FP Canada, and was instrumental in establishing the organizations’ partnership.

Sinclair served on the board of directors for FP Canada’s predecessor organization, the Financial Planning Standards Council (FPSC), as well as for la Chambre de la sécurité financière and IQPF, where he served as chair.

In his roles on the boards of the FPSC and IQPF, Sinclair was “instrumental in laying the foundation for the close bonds that FP Canada and IQPF enjoy today,” the release said.

Among his achievements, he helped shape a mutual recognition agreement that simplified the process for certified financial planners to practise in Quebec, and for financial planners, whose titles are regulated in Quebec, to practise outside the province.

FP Canada Fellow candidates are nominated by their peers, and recipients are selected by an independent committee.