Biographical note

Christopher Cooter (BA Hons [Political Science], University of Toronto, 1981; MA [Political Science], Columbia University, 1982; BCL, LLB [Common/Civil Law], McGill University, 1986) was called to the British Columbia bar in 1986 and practised law at Campney and Murphy before joining the federal government in 1989 as acting manager of lands for the British Columbia region of the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development. In 1990, he joined External Affairs and International Trade Canada, serving in Ottawa as an officer in the legal, Europe and policy planning bureaus and then director of the Southeast Europe Division, director of the Policy Planning Division, director general for executive management and assignments and director general for amalgamation of the Canadian International Development Agency with Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada. In the Privy Council Office, he worked in the Intergovernmental Affairs Bureau. He served abroad as political officer at Canada’s missions in Kenya and India, as chargé d’affaires in Cambodia and as deputy permanent representative to NATO. He was high commissioner in Nigeria and permanent observer to the Economic Community of West African States, ambassador to Türkiye, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan, and chargé d’affaires to the European Union. Most recently, he served as high commissioner in South Africa, Lesotho, Mauritius and Namibia and ambassador to Madagascar.