In an exclusive interview with CanadianSME Small Business Magazine, Alexander Paul Burton, entrepreneur and advocate, shares his unique approach to blending business innovation with social impact. With expertise spanning health promotion, nonprofit leadership, and the creative industries, he has successfully built ventures that prioritize accessibility, agility, and inclusivity. As the driving force behind FORTIS Medical Legal and the OUTLINE Awards, Alexander leverages real-time data, predictive analytics, and strategic outreach to bridge gaps in legal, medical, and artistic spaces. In this conversation, he discusses the power of adaptive business strategies, the role of technology in fostering inclusivity, and how small businesses can create meaningful impact while scaling for success.
Alexander Paul Burton is a dynamic entrepreneur with a diverse background spanning marketing, health promotion, nonprofit leadership, and the creative industries. With a keen eye for digital strategy and brand development, he has worked across multiple sectors, bridging business innovation with social impact. His expertise in strategic growth and communication has positioned him as a leader in both corporate and artistic circles.
You have a diverse background in health promotion, nonprofit work, and the creative industries. How do you leverage your experiences across these sectors to inform your business strategies and marketing innovations?
My background in health promotion, nonprofit work, academia, and the creative industries all feed into how I run FORTIS Medical Legal. The medical-legal world, especially when it comes to motor vehicle accidents (MVAs), is a mess for most people, but it’s even worse for those who are marginalized. Too many fall through the cracks, either getting bad legal advice or missing out on the medical care they actually need. I’ve seen it happen firsthand.
That’s why everything I do with FORTIS is rooted in research and real community needs. My background in academia and health promotion means I don’t just guess what works—I build strategies backed by data, public health research, and policy insights. If it doesn’t help real people, it’s not worth doing.
My nonprofit work keeps me focused on accessibility and advocacy, making sure no one’s left struggling through bureaucracy alone. And the creative industries? That’s where I learned how to actually communicate and connect, making complex systems simple.
At the end of the day, FORTIS isn’t just a business—it’s about making sure justice and care aren’t just for the privileged.
The OUTLINE Awards aim to amplify LGBTQ+ voices in music and the arts. Can you discuss how your work in advocacy and entrepreneurship intersects, particularly in creating opportunities for marginalized creatives?
The OUTLINE Awards exist to amplify LGBTQ+ voices in music and the arts—not just as a token gesture, but in a way that actually creates real opportunities. For me, advocacy and entrepreneurship aren’t separate things; they feed into each other. If you’re trying to change the industry, you can’t just talk about it—you have to build something that makes a difference.
My background in advocacy, nonprofit work, and business gives me a unique perspective. I’ve worked on the ground with marginalized communities, understanding the barriers they face, whether it’s financial, systemic, or just not having the right connections. That’s why OUTLINE isn’t just an award—it’s a platform, a network, and a way in for LGBTQ+ creatives who might otherwise be overlooked.
At the same time, my work as an entrepreneur means I know how to create sustainable models that actually support artists long-term. Visibility is great, but real change happens when we give people the resources, funding, and mentorship to thrive—that’s what I’m building with OUTLINE.
At FORTIS Medical Legal, you emphasize the use of real-time data and analytics to stay ahead in legal marketing. How do you see this approach evolving, especially in making legal services more accessible to marginalized communities?
At FORTIS Medical Legal, real-time data and analytics aren’t just about marketing—they’re about accessibility and impact. The legal industry has been slow to adopt data-driven, responsive outreach, but we use keyword analysis, trend tracking, and predictive modeling to ensure people get the right information at the right time.
For instance, we monitor weather patterns, accident reports, and community-specific trends to predict spikes in motor vehicle accidents (MVAs). If a snowstorm is coming, we don’t just react—we proactively create and distribute content so people know their legal rights and medical options before they even start searching. This approach is critical for marginalized communities, who often face language barriers and lack access to reliable legal resources.
From the start, we built multilingual accessibility into our model. My previous work securing funding for Chinese-language suicide helplines at Distress Centres of Greater Toronto reinforced the importance of language-specific services in crisis situations. More recently, data from the past few years has guided us in expanding content in Arabic, Mandarin, Spanish, and other key languages, ensuring that legal support reaches those who need it most—before they even ask for it.
You highlight the importance of agility in business growth. How do you balance structure and flexibility when navigating different sectors, from legal to creative industries?
Agility in business isn’t just about moving fast—it’s about knowing when to pivot and where to stay grounded. At FORTIS Medical Legal, we balance structure and flexibility by using data-driven prioritization. In the legal-medical space, responsiveness is everything—a delayed response in an MVA case can mean missed care, lost income, or unnecessary suffering. That’s why we ensure the clinics we work with are not just qualified, but proactive and responsive, providing timely assessments and treatment for those who need it most.
At the same time, structure is non-negotiable. We work within strict legal and medical frameworks, but we also know that bureaucracy shouldn’t slow down recovery. That’s why we use real-time data and predictive analytics to prioritize high-need cases, ensuring that clients are connected to clinics that won’t leave them waiting.
It’s a bit like jazz music—you need a solid framework to hold everything together, but the magic happens when you improvise within it. And in our world, agility isn’t just a buzzword—it’s the difference between getting clients the right care, fast, or leaving them stuck in the system longer than a TTC delay in rush hour.
As a leader in both business innovation and social impact, what advice would you offer to small and medium-sized businesses looking to integrate agility, inclusivity, and technology into their growth strategies?
Take chances. If you’re a small or medium-sized business, your biggest advantage is agility—you’re not a giant corporation bogged down by bureaucracy. If one marketing strategy isn’t working, pivot, test something else, and keep the data. I love comparisons—track what works, spot trends, and refine your approach instead of doubling down on what’s failing.
For inclusivity, don’t treat it as an afterthought—embed it into everything you do. We prioritize the decolonization of language barriers, ensuring information isn’t just available but accessible and digestible. Legal and medical marketing is full of gatekeeping—dense terminology, convoluted processes—so we strip out the jargon and disseminate information in a way that’s actually useful to people. Whether it’s multilingual content, culturally relevant outreach, or simply making resources clear and actionable, accessibility isn’t a checkbox—it’s the foundation of trust.
Technology is a scalability tool, not a replacement for human connection. Use automation, AI, and analytics to stay agile, but don’t automate yourself out of relevance. Think of it like cooking for a diverse group—if you only use one spice, you’ll lose half the table. Adapt, refine, and serve something that everyone can actually digest.
