President's Dream Colloquium on Protecting Indigenous Cultural Heritage

Chief John has been a lawyer for over 30 years. He holds a B.A. from the University of Victoria, an LL.B from the University of British Columbia and Honorary Doctor of Laws degrees from the University of Northern British Columbia and the University of Victoria.

Chief John has served in many leadership roles at the local, provincial, national and international levels. He is currently serving his ninth consecutive term on the First Nations Summit Task Group (political executive), which is mandated to carry out specific tasks related to Aboriginal Title and Rights negotiations with British Columbia and Canada and other issues of common concern to First Nations in British Columbia.

He is a former Cabinet Minister (Minister of Children and Families, 2000–2002) with the Government of British Columbia. He is a former Co-Chair of the North American Indigenous Peoples’ Caucus and participated in the development of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in September 2007.

In 2009 he co-chaired the 3rd Indigenous Leaders Summit of the Americas in Panama City, Panama and represented the Indigenous Leaders of the Americas at the 5th Summit of the Americas in Trinidad & Tobago.

He was recently re-appointed for a second three-year term as a North American Representative to the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) (January 2014–December 2016). He served a one-year term as Chair of the UNPFII in 2012.