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 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 Belfast ...

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 in 1990.

Career

After completing her education, Petersen taught at the University of Ottawa from 1990 to 1995. While teaching at the University of Ottawa, she was a part of the '' Egan v Canada''

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 ...

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 Law Society of Upper Canada 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 Societ ...

cases including '' Halpern v Canada (AG)'' 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 numb ...

in 2012. Outside of the Ontario Court of Appeal, Petersen was selected by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in 2014 to look into the sexual allegations against former Members of Parliament Massimo Pacetti 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 and took over Meredith Donohue'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