Biography

Samantha Peters (they/them | she/her) is the Founder and Principal Lawyer of Black Femme Legal, an access-to-justice initiative serving Black 2SLGBTQI+ workers in Ontario. Their work examines the intersections of race, gender, sexuality, labour, and legal institutions, with a focus on Black feminist legal theory, critical judgment writing, judicial education, legal ethics, and access to justice.

Peters holds an LL.M. in Political and Legal Thought from Queen’s University and a J.D. from the University of Ottawa. She also holds an M.A. from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education and an Honours B.A. from the University of Toronto. As an OBA Foundation Chief Justice of Ontario Fellow in Legal Ethics and Professionalism, her research used Black feminist judgment rewriting to examine judicial education, sexual-assault law, social-context evidence, and access to justice.

Through Black Femme Legal, Peters launched a community-responsive pro bono employment-law advice clinic dedicated to Black 2SLGBTQI+ communities in Ontario and developed Law Society-accredited training on transmisogynoir in the workplace. Black Femme Legal also produces public legal education resources on workplace discrimination and undertakes law-reform and public-interest advocacy.

Peters’ public-interest litigation experience began during her articles, when she acted as an intervenor before the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario in Ranger v. Greater Sudbury⁠. Peters later continued this work through Black Femme Legal, which sought intervener status in Weilgosh v. London District Catholic School Board⁠. Together, these interventions reflect Peters’ longstanding commitment to ensuring that unionized workers, particularly those experiencing intersecting forms of discrimination, retain meaningful and accessible avenues for pursuing their human rights.

Peters previously served as Legal Counsel at the Human Rights Legal Support Centre, where she provided free legal advice, representation, and support services in both French and English to people who had experienced discrimination contrary to Ontario’s Human Rights Code. She was subsequently seconded to the newly established position of Legal Counsel, Access to Justice, a role created to advance the priorities of the Centre’s 2024–2029 strategic plan.

In 2020, Peters proposed and became the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law’s inaugural Black Legal Mentor-in-Residence, establishing a position that continues to support Black law students. At the Faculty, Peters also created and taught “Law and Society: Intersectional Theory and Practice in the Law.” For more than a decade, they have participated in the Black Law Students’ Association of Canada’s Julius Alexander Isaac Moot, an annual advocacy competition focused on issues of equity and diversity. Her involvement has evolved from competing as a mooter to coordinating her law school’s participation, coaching students, and serving as a moot judge.

Peters is called to the bars of Ontario and Alberta. She has worked primarily in the public sector, including as a workplace investigator and human rights advisor for one of Canada’s largest urban transit systems. Her professional and public service has included appointments to the Human Rights Expert Panel of the Court Challenges Program of Canada, the City of Toronto’s Two-Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Advisory Committee, the Law Society of Ontario's Equity Advisory Group, and the Canadian Bar Association’s Gender Diversity Advisory Group (GDAG). As a member of GDAG, they have contributed to the development of “Trans Module 101: Understanding Gender Diversity and Inclusion”⁠. This free national training program equips lawyers, judges, law students, and other legal professionals to understand gender diversity, recognize the systemic barriers confronting trans and gender-diverse people, and provide more competent and inclusive legal services.

Peters’ commentary and writing on human rights, workplace discrimination, access to justice, and equity in the legal profession have been featured in the Toronto Star, Global News, Flare, CBA National, and other newspaper and broadcast outlets, including TVO's The Agenda. In 2020, her essay, “Making Social Context Education Mandatory: Why Cultural Competency Should Matter in the Courtroom,” won the inaugural “Writing Her In” competition organized by the Canadian Bar Association’s Women Lawyers Forum.

Peters is regularly invited to speak at universities, law firms, professional associations, and conferences across Canada and the United States.