Peters, a hard rock miner and union organizer, served in the 124th Ferry Squadron in the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War II.
In Parliament, Peters and his caucus colleague Frank Howard were responsible for reforming Canada's divorce laws.
Peters was also active in prison reform, and regularly lobbied for fairer treatment of non-unionized government employees.
Lonsdale died in office just two years later; Peters ran again in the resulting by-election, 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, Diane Marleau and Ed Harper.