Jim served as Chair of the Membership and Nominations Committee for many years until he was elected Council Vice-Chair. After serving two terms he was then elected Chair of the Council of UArctic. In that capacity he was also an ex officio member of the Board of Governors. For a period he also chaired the Academic Quality Committee. In all his roles in UArctic's leadership, Jim worked to ensure indigenous representation in all UArctic bodies as well as in programmatic content.

Jim was a founding member of the UNBC faculty, arriving in 1994 and serving as Chair of Anthropology, First Nations Studies, and as the Director of its First Nations Centre. He was also a Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographic Society, and Chair of the Council of the University of the Arctic.

Our sincere condolences to all who knew him.