Jag Pillay was born in Tswane (formerly Pretoria), South Africa. His family's invovlment in politicial protests go back as far as 1912 when his mother and grandmother went to prison together to support Gandhi’s Passive Resistant Movement. He left South Africa in 1968 for India and studied at the National College in Bombay until 1971, when he immigrated to Canada. He is a founding member and past president of the Nirvana Cultural Society, a religious and cultural organization, founded to serve the needs of the Hindu Community in Toronto and to raise funds for the famine relief in Ethiopia (1985), Canadian Cancer Society (1989), Stephen Lewis Foundation (2004), Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund (Canada)(2006) and Club Amik (Literacy program for Aboriginal Children) (2007). He is a founding member and first president of the Canadian Council of South Africans (CANCOSA) which is an organization that brings together thousands of South Africans and Canadians from different communities to celebrate South Africa’s National Day events.

Jag is a staunch supporter of the Nelson Mandela Fund (Canada) and was a member of the team that organized the largest classroom in the world, brining 45 000 schoolchildren from all over Canada to the Rogers Centre (formerly Skydome) to listen to President Nelson Mandela deliver a talk on his life’s experiences in November 1998. He was also a member of President Thabo Mbeki’s official delegation during President and Mrs. Mbeki’s State visit to Canada in October 2003. Jag is a strong supporter of and a volunteer for South African Woman for Women and the Emily Stow Shelter for Battered Women in Toronto.

Jag Pillay lives in Toronto and is the owner of a transportation company which he established in 1974.