Cynthia Petersen is a Canadian lawyer and judge. Petersen has been a judge for the

Ontario Superior Court of Justice The Superior Court of Justice (French: ''Cour supérieure de justice'') is a superior court in Ontario. The Court sits in 52 locations across the province, including 17 Family Court locations, and consists of over 300 federally appointed judges. ...

since June 2017. Before becoming a judge, Petersen was the Discrimination and Harassment Counsel for the

Law Society of Upper Canada The Law Society of Ontario (LSO; french: Barreau de l'Ontario) is the law society responsible for the self-regulation of lawyers and paralegals in the Canadian province of Ontario. Founded in 1797 as the Law Society of Upper Canada (LSUC; frenc ...

from 2002 to 2017. In 2011, Petersen was inducted into the

Q Hall of Fame Canada The Q Hall of Fame Canada, also known as Queer Hall of Fame, was a Canadian hall of fame dedicated to commemorate the history of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community in Canada. They honoured those that have been human rights pione ...

Education

In 1989, Petersen graduated with a law degree at

Queen's University Queen's or Queens University may refer to: * Queen's University at Kingston, Ontario, Canada *Queen's University Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK ** Queen's University of Belfast (UK Parliament constituency) (1918–1950) **Queen's University of Belfa ...

and went to

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

to complete a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in 1990.

Career

After completing her education, Petersen taught at the

University of Ottawa The University of Ottawa (french: Université d'Ottawa), often referred to as uOttawa or U of O, is a bilingual public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on directly to the northeast of Downtown Ottaw ...

from 1990 to 1995. While teaching at the University of Ottawa, she was a part of the ''

Egan v Canada ''Egan v Canada'', 9952 SCR 513 was one of a trilogy of equality rights cases published by a very divided Supreme Court of Canada in the spring of 1995. It stands today as a landmark Supreme Court case which established that sexual orientation cons ...

Supreme Court of Canada The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; french: Cour suprême du Canada, CSC) is the highest court in the judicial system of Canada. It comprises nine justices, whose decisions are the ultimate application of Canadian law, and grants permission to ...

case as an intervenor. After leaving the university, Petersen became a lawyer for the law firm Goldblatt Partners LLP in 1995. While working at Goldbatt, Petersen became the Discrimination and Harassment Counsel of the

in 2002. For Goldbatt, Petersen was a part of multiple

Court of Appeal for Ontario The Court of Appeal for Ontario (frequently referred to as the Ontario Court of Appeal or ONCA) is the appellate court for the province of Ontario, Canada. The seat of the court is Osgoode Hall in downtown Toronto, also the seat of the Law So ...

cases including ''

Halpern v Canada (AG) ''Halpern v Canada (AG)'', 003O.J. No. 2268 is a June 10, 2003 decision of the Court of Appeal for Ontario in which the Court found that the common law definition of marriage, which defined marriage as between one man and one woman, violated se ...

'' in 2003 and

Canada (AG) v Bedford is a decision of the Supreme Court of Canada on the Canadian law of sex work. The applicants, Terri-Jean Bedford, Amy Lebovitch and Valerie Scott, argued that Canada's prostitution laws were unconstitutional. The ''Criminal Code'' included a numbe ...

in 2012. Outside of the Ontario Court of Appeal, Petersen was selected 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 ...

Justin Trudeau Justin Pierre James Trudeau ( , ; born December 25, 1971) is a Canadian politician who is the 23rd and current prime minister of Canada. He has served as the prime minister of Canada since 2015 and as the leader of the Liberal Party since ...

in 2014 to look into the sexual allegations against former

Members of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members oft ...

Massimo Pacetti Massimo Pacetti (born August 22, 1962) is a Canadian politician from Quebec, Canada. Pacetti was first elected to the House of Commons of Canada in a 2002 by-election and continued as the Member of Parliament for Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel si ...

and Scott Andrews. In 2017, Petersen's time as Discrimination and Harassment Counsel ended when she came a member of the

in June 2017. She began her Superior Court career as a judge in

Brampton, Ontario Brampton ( or ) is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Brampton is a city in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and is a lower-tier municipality within Peel Region. The city has a population of 656,480 as of the 2021 Census, making it th ...

and took over

Meredith Donohue Meredith is a Welsh Brittonic family name, and is also sometimes used as a girl's or boy's forename. The Welsh form is "Maredudd". People * Meredith (given name) * Meredith (surname) Places Australia * Meredith, Victoria United States * Meredit ...

's position.

Awards and honours

Petersen was inducted into the

in 2011.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Peterson, Cynthia Canadian women lawyers Canadian women judges Year of birth missing (living people) Queen's University at Kingston alumni Harvard Law School alumni Living people Inductees of the Q Hall of Fame