Cynthia Petersen practices in the areas of constitutional litigation, administrative law, and labour law and specializes in human rights and equality rights issues. She joined the firm in 1995 after teaching in the Faculty of Law at the University of Ottawa for several years.
Cynthia has represented clients in numerous ground-breaking Charter cases, including Jane Doe v. Metropolitan Toronto Police and almost all of the lesbian and gay rights cases that have been litigated before the Supreme Court of Canada, including Egan v. Canada, Vriend v. Alberta, M. v. H., Little Sisters Bookstore v. Canada (No.1 and no.2), Chamberlain v. Surrey District School Board, Reference re: Same-Sex Marriage and Hislop v. Canada. In 2000, Cynthia was awarded the Canadian Bar Association's Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Conference Hero award for her work advancing the equality rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.
In addition to her appellate advocacy work, Cynthia regularly appears before a variety of tribunals and lower courts.
Cynthia also acts as the discrimination and harassment counsel for the Law Society of Upper Canada. As such, she provides confidential information and advice to individuals who have complaints of discrimination or harassment against lawyers in Ontario.
Cynthia is a regular speaker on a wide variety of subjects relating to social justice issues and often conducts educational workshops on human rights issues for various associations and organizations. She has also published several articles on equity issues, including racism in the criminal jury selection process, the role of trade unions in the lesbian and gay rights movement, and feminist pedagogy in law schools. Cynthia has been qualified as an expert witness in a number of legal proceedings on the topics of institutionalized racism in the criminal jury selection process, the constitutional rights of lesbian and gay Canadians, and sexual harassment and workplace sensitivity.
Cynthia received a bachelor of laws degree from Queen’s University in 1989 and a master of laws degree from Harvard Law School in 1990. She was called to the Ontario Bar in 1994.
