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.
