Lesya Granger

Lesya Alexandra Granger is a seasoned education professional and researcher with over 25 years of experience in multilingual education, teacher training, and public school administration in Ontario. Her academic work has focused on the intersections of language, identity, and community, earning her multiple distinctions, including the Ontario Diversity Champion Award and the LLRC Master’s Research Award.

 

Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Lesya joined a group of Canadian volunteers who mobilized to support Ukraine’s defenders. In 2023, she became the head of Mriya Aid, a Canadian nonprofit organization dedicated to providing life-saving training and equipment to Ukrainian explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) specialists. Like all of the organization’s board of directors, Lesya serves in a volunteer capacity, ensuring that all available funds are directed toward supporting and expanding training programs for Ukrainian deminers and sappers.

 

Since the start of the invasion, Mriya Aid has organized and funded the training of over 250 Ukrainian EOD and demining professionals. With support from the Government of Canada, the organization expanded its EOD Train & Equip program in 2024, training and equipping 138 demining professionals in 2024 and another 38 in 2025, including 19 women. A total of 176  International Mine Action Standards certifications were earned – 47 of them at the highest levels (EOD 3,  3+) with women deminers earning almost 50% of these. Mriya Aid provided over 1500 pieces of PPE and life-saving equipment for Ukrainian deminers, as well as teaching tools to national state agency learning institutions teaching deminers across Ukraine.

 

 

Building on this success, Mriya Aid continues to develop new initiatives to strengthen Ukraine’s demining capacity and ensure the safety of communities affected by war.

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  • The mission of NATO Association of Canada is to promote peace, prosperity, and security through knowledge and understanding of the importance of NATO.

    We strive to educate and engage Canadians about NATO and NATO’s goal of peace, prosperity and security. NATO Association of Canada ensures that we have an informed citizenry able to contribute to discussions about Canada’s role on the world stage.

    As a leading member of the Atlantic Treaty Association (ATA), NATO Association of Canada has strong and enduring ties with sister organizations in many of the alliance countries, as well as members of NATO’s “Partnership for Peace” and “Mediterranean Dialogue” programmes. The NAOC has had a leading role in the recent transformation and modernization of the ATA, and helped to create and develop the Youth Atlantic Treaty Association (YATA).

    The NAOC has strong ties with the Government of Canada including Global Affairs Canada and the Department of National Defence. We are constantly working to create and maintain relationships with international organizations such as the World Bank Group, the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development, NATO Headquarters, the International Criminal Court, and other prominent international NGOs and think tanks.

     

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