William Arnold Peters (May 14, 1922 – September 17, 1996) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

politician. He represented the riding of Timiskaming in the House of Commons of Canada from 1957 to 1980. He was originally elected as a member of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, which became the New Democratic Party in 1961. Peters, a hard rock miner and

union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

organizer, served in the 124th Ferry Squadron in the

Royal Canadian Air Force The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environm ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. He also ran in the 1953 election against Karl Eyre in the

Timmins Timmins ( ) is a city in northeastern Ontario, Canada, located on the Mattagami River. The city is the fourth-largest city in the Northeastern Ontario region with a population of 41,145 (2021). The city's economy is based on natural resource ext ...

riding, but was not elected. In Parliament, Peters and his caucus colleague Frank Howard were responsible for reforming Canada's divorce laws. In many provinces, divorce proceedings once had to be presented to Parliament for approval; Peters and Howard tried to show the ridiculousness of this by reading each divorce petition into the Commons record in great detail. Peters was also active in

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, corre ...

reform, and regularly lobbied for fairer treatment of non-unionized government employees. He also prepared a private member's bill in 1964 to decriminalize

homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to pe ...

in Canada, although the bill never made it to a vote in the House of Commons.Donald W. McLeod, ''Lesbian and Gay Liberation in Canada: A Selected Annotated Chronology, 1964-1975''. ECW Press, 1996. . In the 1980 election, Peters was defeated by

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

candidate Bruce Lonsdale. Lonsdale died in office just two years later; Peters ran again in the resulting

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

, but was not re-elected. On September 19, 1996, two days after his death, tributes to Peters were delivered in the House of Commons by

Bill Blaikie William Alexander Blaikie (June 19, 1951 – September 24, 2022) was a Canadian politician. He served as a member of Parliament (MP) from 1979 to 2008, representing Elmwood—Transcona and its antecedent ridings in the House of Commons of Canad ...

, Diane Marleau and

Ed Harper Edward Harper (born April 9, 1931) is a former Canadian politician, who represented the electoral district of Simcoe Centre in the House of Commons of Canada from 1993 until 1997. A member of the Reform Party, Harper was the only MP from th ...

Electoral record

, - ,

, Karl EYRE , align="right", 5,541 , Co-operative Commonwealth , Arnold PETERS , align="right", 4,686 , Progressive Conservative , Maurice BÉLANGER , align="right", 3,348 , - , Co-operative Commonwealth , Arnold PETERS , align="right", 6,936 ,

Ann SHIPLEY Marie Ann Shipley (April 8, 1899 – March 22, 1981) was a Canadian politician. Born in Lawrence Station in Southwold, Ontario, she moved to Ottawa when she was 12, attended country school, Osgood Public School. She was then educated at Otta ...

, align="right", 6,896 , Progressive Conservative , C. Foster RICE , align="right", 5,645 , - , Co-operative Commonwealth , Arnold PETERS , align="right", 7,544 , Progressive Conservative , C. Foster RICE , align="right", 7,318 ,

, Ted J. MIRON , align="right", 6,118 , - , New Democratic Party , Arnold PETERS , align="right", 7,055 , Progressive Conservative , Joseph MAVRINAC , align="right", 6,053 ,

, align="right", 5,969 , - , New Democratic Party , Arnold PETERS , align="right", 7,356 ,

, Mervyn LAVIGNE , align="right", 6,763 , Progressive Conservative , John CRAM , align="right", 5,540 , - , New Democratic Party , Arnold PETERS , align="right", 9,986 ,

, Mervyn LAVIGNE , align="right", 5,885 , Progressive Conservative , Bruce BESLEY , align="right", 3,823 , - , New Democratic Party , Arnold PETERS , align="right", 8,482 ,

, Louis-R. VANNIER , align="right", 7,728 , Progressive Conservative , George L. CASSIDY , align="right", 4,443 , - , New Democratic Party , Arnold PETERS , align="right", 11,327 ,

, Dick DUFF , align="right", 7,768 , Progressive Conservative , Alf GUPPY , align="right", 3,317 , - , New Democratic Party , Arnold PETERS , align="right", 10,263 ,

, Guy IANNUCCI , align="right", 6,598 , Progressive Conservative , Murray WATTS , align="right", 4,615 , - ,

, Bruce LONSDALE , align="right", 11,135 , New Democratic Party , Arnold PETERS , align="right", 10,661 , Progressive Conservative , Grant SIROLA , align="right", 4,901

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Peters, Arnold 1922 births 1996 deaths Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Ontario Co-operative Commonwealth Federation MPs 20th-century Canadian politicians New Democratic Party MPs People from Timiskaming District Canadian trade unionists