The son of Louis and Amelia John, he was born in the Carrier village of Tachie, along the north shore of Stuart Lake, about 60 km from Fort St. James, British Columbia.
He is also chairman of the board of Tanizul Timber and Teeslee Forest Products, companies owned by Tl'azt'en Nation.
This group produced the tripartite Task Force Report that led to the current British Columbia Treaty Process.
In June 2016 John was elected to his eleventh term on the Task Group (political executive) of the First Nations Summit, of which he has been a member almost continuously since 1993.
[3] On November 1, 2000 he was appointed to the provincial cabinet as Minister for Children and Families, serving until the change of government in June 2001.
In the election of May 16, 2001 he ran unsuccessfully as the New Democratic Party candidate for Member of the Legislative Assembly from the Prince George-Omineca riding.
In January 2011 he began a three-year term as the North American Representative to the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.,[5] of which he became Chair in May 2012.
After an extended consultation with the complainant the Crown determined that the prospects for conviction were poor and entered a stay of proceedings, dropping the charges.