Christopher Cooter

Chris Cooter, b. New Westminster, B.C. (BA Honours [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 practiced law at Campney & Murphy, before joining the federal government in 1989 as acting manager of lands for the British Columbia region of the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs.

In 1990, he joined External Affairs, serving in Ottawa as an officer in the legal, Europe, and policy planning Bureaus, then as director of the Southeast Europe division, director of the policy planning division, director-general for executive management and assignments, and director-general for the amalgamation of the Canadian International Development Agency with Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada.

In the Privy Council Office, he worked as a policy advisor in the Inter-Governmental Affairs Bureau.

In the 1990s, he served abroad as political officer at Canada’s mission in Kenya (1991-1994) and India (1997-2000), and as chargé d’affaires in Cambodia (1998), and, later, as deputy permanent representative to NATO (2006-2010), high commissioner to Nigeria and permanent observer to ECOWAS (2010-2013), ambassador to Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Turkmenistan (2016-2019), chargé d’affaires at Canada’s mission to the European Union (2019-2020), and high commissioner to South Africa, Mauritius, Namibia and Lesotho, ambassador to Madagascar (2020-2024), and charge d’affaires, Canadian Embassy to Israel (November 2024 – April 2025).

He is married to Karen Joan Blumenschein.