Toronto, ON – April 1, 2026 – The Catholic Civil Rights League (CCRL) is pleased to announce that it has chosen Dr. Moira McQueen, LLB, MDiv, PhD, as the winner of the League’s annual Archbishop Adam Exner Award for Catholic Excellence in Public Life.
Dr. McQueen is a distinguished scholar and moral theologian who has served as a primary voice for Catholic bioethics in Canada for over two decades. Born in Scotland, Dr. McQueen earned her law degree from the University of Glasgow before moving to Canada, where she later shifted her focus to theology, earning both a Master of Divinity and a PhD from the University of St. Michael’s College at the University of Toronto.
For 21 years, Dr. McQueen served as the Executive Director of the Canadian Catholic Bioethics Institute (CCBI). In this role, she became one of the country’s most respected experts on the intersection of Catholic teaching and medical ethics. Her work has been instrumental in promoting Catholic teaching on the dignity of the human person amidst the illicit regime of euthanasia and assisted suicide and reproductive technologies.
Dr. McQueen has worked alongside the CCRL and other Catholic groups to defend conscience rights for healthcare workers and to ensure that the Catholic perspective is heard in the public square.
Dr. McQueen taught moral theology courses, particularly in bioethics at the Faculty of Theology at the University of St. Michael’s College for over 20 years, preparing hundreds of students for work in schools, parishes, and hospitals.
Her expertise has been recognized at the highest levels of the Church. In 2014, Pope Francis appointed her to the International Theological Commission, and she later served as an Auditor at the Synod of Bishops on the Family in the Vatican. These appointments highlighted her unique ability to articulate the faith with both legal precision and theological depth.
The Exner Award was created in 2004 in recognition of the tireless work of the late Archbishop Adam Exner, OMI, on behalf of the Church in the fields of education and social justice. Archbishop Exner, who passed away in September 2023, was a champion of the lay vocation to “build the City of God within the city of man”—a mission Dr. McQueen has lived out through her scholarship and public witness.
Dr. McQueen addresses important issues using well-articulated reason developed intelligently through her Catholic faith. Whether advising bishops or teaching students, she has consistently brought to the forefront issues vital not only to Catholics but to the greater common good.
Upon being informed of winning the CCRL’s Archbishop Adam Exner Award, Dr. McQueen stated:
I am deeply honoured to be the recipient of this prestigious award, founded in recognition of Archbishop Adam Exner, OMI.
As Executive Director of CCBI and in teaching at the University of St Michael’s College I became ever more aware of ongoing challenges to conscience and practice for Catholics in healthcare, education and other professions, as well as for the ‘people in the pews.’
Catholic teaching protects the dignity and flourishing of every individual as well as looking to the common good of society, and I have always tried to be true to those principles in responding to those challenges.
I am grateful to the CCRL for this award and for its members’ outstanding work in supporting freedom of conscience and religion in the public square.
The League is organizing a dinner to be held in Toronto this Spring to honour Dr. McQueen and to present her with the Exner Award. More information regarding tickets and sponsorship will be released in the coming weeks.
About the Archbishop Exner Award
The CCRL established the Archbishop Exner Award in 2004 to honour Archbishop Adam Exner, OMI, Archbishop Emeritus of Vancouver, upon his retirement and to recognize outstanding achievement in advocacy, education, life issues, media and culture, and philanthropy.
Previous recipients include:
Charles Lewis, journalist and anti-euthanasia advocate (2024)
Fr. Anthony Van Hee, SJ, prolife activist through prayerful protest (2019)
Dr. Catherine Ferrier, Catholic physician, Physicians’ Alliance against Euthanasia (2018)
Dr. Robert Walley, founder of MaterCare International (2017)
Alex Schadenberg, anti-euthanasia/assisted suicide activist (2016)
Dr. Donald DeMarco, scholar, writer, seminary professor, and pro-life activist (2015)
Gwen Landolt, long time national Vice-President of REAL Women of Canada, pro- life advocate, promoter of the family in national and international circles (2014)
Fr. Alphonse de Valk, CSB, pro-life activist, writer and editor (2013)
Michael D. O’Brien, artist and author, for creative work incorporating authentic Catholicism and Catholic teaching (2012)
Suzanne LaVallee of Quebec for leadership in education (2010)
Frank Chauvin of Windsor, Ontario, founder of Haiti’s first orphanage for girls and initiator of an application for review of the process by which Henry Morgentaler was awarded the Order of Canada (2009)
Dr. and Mrs. Andrew and Joan Simone of Toronto, co-founders of Canadian Food for Children, for services to philanthropy and international aid (2008)
Campaign Life Coalition President Jim Hughes of Toronto for service to the pro-life movement (2007)
Fraser Field of Vancouver, founder of Catholic Educators’ Resource Centre, for service to education (2006)
Regina business leader Frederick W. Hill for philanthropy and community service (2005)
As we enter Holy Week, the CCRL reflects on the profound importance of publicly bearing witness to our faith. The CCRL’s vital work in the courts and the public square is exclusively sustained through the generous donations of our supporters.
We urgently ask for your financial support this Holy Week so that we may continue to defend Catholic teaching and fight anti-Catholic defamation across Canada.
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About the CCRL
Catholic Civil Rights League (CCRL) (www.ccrl.ca) assists in creating conditions within which Catholic teachings can be better understood, cooperates with other organizations in defending civil rights in Canada, and opposes defamation and discrimination against Catholics on the basis of their beliefs. The CCRL was founded in 1985 as an independent lay organization with a large nationwide membership base. The CCRL is a Canadian non-profit organization entirely supported by the generosity of its members.
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