Maureen McTeer

For more than four decades, Maureen McTeer has been a leading advocate and role model for gender equality in Canada. She remains a strong advocate for greater public funding for all aspects of women’s health and care, and a staunch defender of women’s health and reproductive rights.

She is an expert on medical law and public policy, was an original member of the federal Royal Commission on New Reproductive Technologies, and was a member of the Global Commission on Pollution, Health and Development.

Her interests and activism span a wide range of social, legal, and ethical issues, where science and society intersect. As a dedicated social activist, Ms. McTeer urges Canadians to participate actively in shaping policies and laws that affect them and others in their communities. Leading by example, she has served on many not-for-profit boards, including as co-chair of the National Experts Commission of the Canadian Nurses Association; as a founding member and chair of the Advisory Board of the Shirley E. Greenberg Women’s Health Centre in Ottawa; as a lay member of the National Council of the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada and of the Accreditation Committee of Canadian Medical Schools; as a member of the Board of Governors of the University of Ottawa and the Ottawa Heart Institute; as the Canadian representative of the international White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood; and as the national patron of the Canadian Osteoporosis Society.