Canadian Lawyer - sample

28 M A R C H 2 0 1 9 w w w . c a n a d i a n l a w y e r m a g . c o m hen Yves Côté became commissioner of Canada Elections nearly seven years ago, enforcing Canada's elections law was straightforward. Make sure people didn't try to vote twice. Ensure candi- dates didn't spend more than the law allowed. Check that the list of people who voted didn't include names culled from a nearby cemetery. One of the toughest chal- lenges the long-time lawyer had was trying to get to the bottom of a series of low- tech automated phone calls in the 2011 election that directed voters to the wrong location. But now, as Canadians prepare for the next federal election in October, Côté and Stéphane Perrault, chief elec- toral officer, are facing threats to Canada's elections that they could have never even con- templated a few years ago. Bots. Internet trolls. Attempts to disrupt or influence elections around the world with fake news, deep fake videos and sophisti- cated social media disinformation campaigns. Some of it is the work of countries such as Russia, Iran or North Korea. Some of it is the result of domestic players and enterprising hackers. "We know that we are in a state of not double ignorance, but we don't know what visage or face some of these threats may take," Côté explains. "So we have to prepare for that." D onara Barojan, assistant director for research and development for the Digital Forensic Research Lab, which monitors disinformation campaigns and attempts to disrupt elections, says no country is immune. "In this day and age, every country is potentially vulnerable to foreign interference because the rise of social media has really decreased the barrier to entry for state and non-state actors alike, making disinformation and hostile campaigns a low-cost and high-impact means of attack." Barojan puts Canada's risk of foreign interference at moderate. But Marc Mayrand, Canada's former chief electoral officer, says that's a risk Côté and Perrault can't afford to take. Canadians should trust their electoral system. "They cannot afford not to take those risks seriously. They have to take them seriously. Manage them as best as they can and be ready to intervene quickly if something happens." C ôté and Perrault were both raised in Quebec, practised law for decades and have spent their legal careers working for the Canadian government. But the paths that took them to the roles they are called upon to play today are very different. Côté, 65, grew up in the tiny northern Quebec town of Métabe- tchouan, nestled on the shores of Lac St. Jean. His father, a black- smith, died when Côté was 12 years old, prompting his mother to move the family to Quebec City where she taught primary school. Côté attended Séminaire St.-Alphonse in Ste Anne de Beaupré, east of Quebec City, and, like many bright, young future leaders growing up in Quebec's Catholic church-run clas- sical college system at that time, Côte originally thought he wanted to become a priest. That changed when he was around 16 years old. He gravitated to the law, despite the objections of his teachers. "When I told my professors I want to study law, they said, 'What? You're going to waste your time trying to study law? It doesn't make sense." "But for me, it's what I wanted to be in." After law school at Quebec City's Université Laval, Côté joined the armed forces and the Judge Advocate General's office — an uncommon choice for a francophone in 1970s Quebec. He was posted to Winnipeg, a city he and his family loved. But his wife Carole didn't speak much English at the time, and he was on the road 120 days a year, leaving her and their young children at home. So Côté headed for Ottawa in 1981 and began working as a law- yer in the federal public service. This included Health Canada, the Employment and Immigration Commission and as director of the justice department's human rights law section. It was during those years in the early 1990s, while working as a government lawyer, that Côté decided to take psychology courses with his wife, who went on to become a social worker. Côté says the experience made him a better manager and a better lawyer. "The psychology training helped me to understand what the cli- ent wants to do and why and how [to] establish a rapport with him or her that is solid. So, when you say no to them, they understand that you just want — it's not that you want to be a negative person — it's just that there's a real issue and then they can engage with you." In 1998, Côté opened the first justice department legal office at National Defence headquarters, working with the armed forces W Yves Côté

• Cover