John McKinnon began working in the community legal clinic system as a volunteer when he was a law student 30 years ago, and has continued to work in clinics throughout his professional career. He has been with Injured Workers' Consultants (IWC) since 1989, where he is the Executive Director and represents injured workers in appeals.

John co-chairs the Ontario Legal Clinics' Workers' Compensation Network, which is active in law reform, and training and skills development for community legal clinic caseworkers. He has been involved with the Ontario Network of Injured Worker Groups (ONIWG) since it began, and currently serves on its Conference and Education Committee. This has allowed RAACWI to feature its work at ONIWG's 2007 and 2008 annual conferences. John also co-chairs the Association of Community Legal Clinics of Ontario (ACLCO), which represents community legal clinics across the province.

John helped Community Legal Education Ontario (CLEO) and the Industrial Accident Victims' Group of Ontario (IAVGO) develop a training manual for injured worker advocates. He often writes articles for the IAVGO reporting service and newsletter.

John is currently the Community Lead for the Financial Security Theme and is involved with the History Theme. He has also assisted with several RAACWI Community Forums and sessions of the Speakers' School. He finds his work in RAACWI to be an extremely valuable learning experience, and is pleased to find that much of the research is consistent with observations of the injured worker community.