Suzanne Côté (born September 21, 1958) is a

puisne justice A puisne judge or puisne justice (; from french: puisné or ; , 'since, later' + , 'born', i.e. 'junior') is a dated term for an ordinary judge or a judge of lesser rank of a particular court. Use The term is used almost exclusively in common law ...

of the

Supreme Court of Canada The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; french: Cour suprême du Canada, CSC) is the Supreme court, highest court in the Court system of Canada, judicial system of Canada. It comprises List of Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada, nine justices, wh ...

. She was nominated by

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

Stephen Harper Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. Harper is the first and only prime minister to come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ...

to replace retiring justice

Louis LeBel Louis LeBel (born November 30, 1939) is a former puisne justice of the Supreme Court of Canada. He served on the Court from 2000 to 2014. LeBel was born in Quebec City. He is the son of lawyer Paul LeBel, Q.C. He went to school at the Collè ...

. Before her appointment to the Supreme Court, she was a partner at

Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP is a Canadian-based law firm founded in 1862. Osler is considered one of the Seven Sisters (law firms), a historical collection of seven law firms with offices in Toronto, Ontario. History The firm was founded in ...

LLP and previously

Stikeman Elliott Stikeman Elliott LLP is a Canadian business law firm founded in 1952 by H. Heward Stikeman and Fraser Elliott. The firm has offices located in Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, Calgary, Vancouver, New York, London and Sydney. Since 2021, the firm's ch ...

LLP in

Montréal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-p ...

. She is the first woman appointed to the Supreme Court directly from private practice.

Early life and education

She had wanted to be a lawyer since age 11. While her mother wanted her to become a teacher, as a child Suzanne enjoyed reading about high-profile legal cases. Côté did her legal studies at the Faculté de droit de l'Université Laval.

Career

While a student, Côté worked at a small law firm in Gaspé. She bought half of her employer's practice. Côté was called to the

Bar of Quebec The Bar of Quebec (french: Barreau du Québec) is the regulatory body for the practice of advocates in the Canadian province of Quebec and one of two legal regulatory bodies in the province. It was founded on May 30, 1849, as the Bar of Lower Ca ...

in 1981. She went on to become a partner at

LLP in

, and later

LLP. At Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt, she oversaw the firm's Montreal office litigation group while her own practice area centred around complex civil and commercial cases. Her clients in private practice included Jean Pelletier, who once served as chief of staff to Prime Minister

Jean Chretien Jean may refer to: People * Jean (female given name) * Jean (male given name) * Jean (surname) Fictional characters * Jean Grey, a Marvel Comics character * Jean Valjean, fictional character in novel ''Les Misérables'' and its adaptations * Jea ...

, and

Imperial Tobacco Imperial Brands plc (formerly Imperial Tobacco Group plc), is a British multinational tobacco company headquartered in Bristol, England. It is the world's fourth-largest international cigarette company measured by market share after Philip Mo ...

. She defended Imperial Tobacco in a 2012 class-action lawsuit by arguing that the public had been aware of the negative effects of smoking since the 1960s. Côté has taught courses at

Université de Montréal The Université de Montréal (UdeM; ; translates to University of Montreal) is a French-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university's main campus is located in the Côte-des-Neiges neighborhood of Côte- ...

, the Université du Québec à Rimouski, and at the Bar of Quebec.

Supreme Court of Canada

She was nominated to the

to replace retiring justice

. She was appointed a puisne justice on December 1, 2014. She is the first woman appointed directly from private practice. In June 2018, Côté wrote a concurrence when the majority found that the

Canadian Human Rights Tribunal The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal (french: Tribunal canadien des droits de la personne, link=no) is an administrative tribunal established in 1977 through the ''Canadian Human Rights Act''. It is directly funded by the Parliament of Canada and i ...

's determination that the

Indian Act The ''Indian Act'' (, long name ''An Act to amend and consolidate the laws respecting Indians'') is a Canadian act of Parliament that concerns registered Indians, their bands, and the system of Indian reserves. First passed in 1876 and still ...

did not violate the

Canadian Human Rights Act The ''Canadian Human Rights Act'' (french: Loi canadienne sur les droits de la personne) is a statute passed by the Parliament of Canada in 1977 with the express goal of extending the law to ensure equal opportunity to individuals who may be vi ...

was reasonable due to judicial deference, in which she argued instead that the Tribunal's decision was correct. In March 2021, the Supreme Court found that the federal government's carbon price regime is

constitutional A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these prin ...

. Côté was one of three dissenting justices. In her decision, she agreed carbon pricing is a matter of “national concern,” but disagreed that the federal law was constitutional as written.

Personal life

Côté is married to Gerald R. Tremblay, who is a lawyer practicing in the province of Quebec.

References

External links