Member Ed John

   Grand Chief Edward John (Akile Ch'oh)

Grand Chief Edward John is a Hereditary Chief of Tl'azt'en Nation located in northern British Columbia (BC). He is an Indigenous leader who has dedicated his life to the pursuit of social and economic justice for Canada’s Indigenous people, having worked as a leader in Indigenous politics, business and community development.



Grand Chief John has been a lawyer for over 30 years. He holds a B.A. from the University of Victoria (UVIC), an LL.B from the University of British Columbia and Honorary Degrees from UVIC and the University of Northern BC.



Grand Chief John has served in many leadership roles at the local, provincial, national and international levels. He is a long serving elected member of the First Nations Summit political executive, which is mandated to carry out specific tasks related to Aboriginal Title and Rights negotiations with the governments of BC and Canada and other issues of common concern to First Nations in BC. He participated in the development of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in September 2007.  He is currently serving a three-year term as a North American Representative to the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) (January 2011 – December 2013) which is an advisory body to the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations, with a mandate to discuss indigenous issues related to economic and social development, culture, the environment, education, health and human rights.



In May 2012, Grand Chief John was appointed to serve a one year term (May 2012 – May 2013) as Chair of the UNPFII.