John practised as a lawyer, but also became involved in politics, running unsuccessfully in three federal elections in the riding of Yorkton before becoming Canada's first Ukrainian-born senator in 1959.

[3] He was called to the bar of Saskatchewan in 1957 and briefly worked at a Saskatoon law firm, then moved to Ottawa in 1958 to take a position as an assistant to Walter Aseltine, the Government Leader in the Canadian Senate.

[10] When Saskatoon—Biggar was abolished ahead of the 1979 election, Hnatyshyn followed most of his constituents into the newly established riding of Saskatoon West, where he won re-election.

[3][10] The PC minority government fell in December 1979, and the Liberals regained power in the subsequent federal election held on February 18, 1980.

[10] By mid-1986, as the PCs began to trail the Liberals in opinion polling, Mulroney announced a cabinet shuffle, naming Hnatyshyn Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada on June 30.

[5][9] Saskatoon West was abolished before the election of 1988, and Hnatyshyn attempted to follow most of his constituents into Saskatoon—Clark's Crossing, but lost to NDP challenger Chris Axworthy.

[10] Following his defeat, Hnatyshyn returned to practising law, joining the Ottawa firm of Gowling, Strathy & Henderson in April 1989.

[1] Hnatyshyn thereafter made an effort to open up Rideau Hall—the monarch's and governor general's residence in Ottawa[12][13][14][15][16][17][18]—to the public, establishing a visitors' centre and initiating guided tours of the palace and the royal park in which it sits.

[3] These events blended with some of Hnatyshyn's self-imposed mandates during his viceregal tenure, which included a desire to engage Canadian youth and focus attention on education and to encourage the arts.

Further, Hnatyshyn undertook a number of state visits, including one to Ukraine,[8] before his time serving at Her Majesty's pleasure ended on February 6, 1995.

[21] Adrienne Clarkson, by that time the sitting governor general, paid tribute to him via video, as she and her husband were en route to spend Christmas with Canadian troops stationed in the Persian Gulf.