Lisa Shymko holds an M.A. in Political Science from the University of Toronto and an Honours B.A. with a specialist in Canadian constitutional law and Soviet history, along with minors in Economics and Slavic Studies.
With decades of experience spanning media, public policy, international development, and the nonprofit sector, Ms. Shymko has been a frequent commentator on Ukraine, Russia, and Euro-Atlantic security. Her articles and opinion pieces have appeared in The Globe and Mail, Maclean’s, The American Spectator, and Ukraine’s national newspaper, The Day (Den’).
She has managed several international development initiatives, including the Ukraine–Canada Journalists Exchange Program for the International Renaissance Foundation (Soros Foundations Network). She has served on several Canadian boards, including the Toronto Public Library and BCU Foundation, and was the founding Director of the CIDA-funded Canada–Ukraine Parliamentary Resource Centre at the National Parliamentary Library of Ukraine in Kyiv. She has chaired several humanitarian projects, including Guardian Angels Ukraine, a veterans’ rehabilitation initiative operating in cooperation with NATO’s Medical Rehabilitation Trust Fund.
Invited by the Government of Canada to testify before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Ms. Shymko made a pivotal contribution to the development of Canada’s legislation recognizing the Holodomor as genocide. She has advised successive Canadian governments on policy toward Russia and participated in three official Canadian delegations to Ukraine between 2001 and 2015.
In recognition of her work to promote democracy and transatlantic cooperation, Lisa is the recipient of several awards, including Ukraine’s Presidential Order of Merit (2009), Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (2012), and the Medal of Honour of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine (2017).
Since 2021, Lisa Shymko has served as Chief Administrator and Jury Chair of the Peterson Literary Fund, an international literary fund based in Canada that supports authors, translators, and publishers from around the world.
