Lesya Granger

Lesya Alexandra Granger is a Canadian civil society activist, volunteer, educator, and researcher in multilingual and intercultural education.^[1] Since 2022, she has worked in the Canadian non-profit organization Mriya Aid, which she co-founded, and since 2023, she serves as its CEO and chair of the board of directors.^[2][3]

For many years, she was Program Director and Principal of the Lesia Ukrainka Ukrainian School in Ottawa.^[4][5]

Lesya Alexandra Granger was born and lives in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Her family originates from Lviv Oblast, Ukraine, and was forced to immigrate to Canada during WWII, following the Soviet occupation of Ukraine. One of her grandfathers came from a renowned family of teachers and civil society activists in Brody, Ukraine, and later became a professor at a university in Lviv. Her father was a faculty member and vice dean at the law faculty of the University of Ottawa.^[6]

In 1994, Lesya Granger earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts and Art History, Cum Laude, from the University of Ottawa.^[7] She then completed a Master of Arts in Canadian Art History at Carleton University in 1996, with a published thesis titled The Icon Painting Tradition Among Canadians of Ukrainian Descent.^[8] In 2020, she obtained a Master of Arts in education from the University of Ottawa, Faculty of Education, specializing in Societies, Cultures and Languages, and published the thesis Perspectives of Ontario School Board Administrators on Plurilingualism in Secondary Level International Languages Classrooms.^[9]

Lesya Alexandra Granger began her professional career as a Marketing Consultant and Historical Researcher at the Royal Canadian Mint (1996–2002), where she conducted historical and market research for the creation of commemorative and collector coins.^[10]

As an artist, Granger took part in group and solo exhibits in Ottawa and Toronto. In 1996 and 1997, she was a member of a local artists’ collective, the Enriched Bread Artists, where she served on the board of directors. Her public art in the form of stainless steel bicycle racks is permanently installed in three downtown Ottawa locations.^[11]

From 2008 to 2013, she served as Director and Program Head of the Lesia Ukrainka Ukrainian School in Ottawa, combining this work with her role in Continuing Education of the Conseil des écoles catholiques du Centre-est (CECCE).^[12]

Between 2014 and 2021, she was a manager of the International and Indigenous Languages Program at the CECCE.^[13][14] Since 2021, she has worked as an independent researcher and consultant in second-language education.^[15][16]

Since Ukraine's independence in 1991, Lesya Granger worked as a volunteer mentor and supporter of Ukrainian interns participating in the Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Program (CUPP). A speaker at the CUPP Model Ukraine Conference, held in Trinity College at the University of Toronto in 2016, Granger and other speakers presented on official bilingualism in Canada and the development of language policies in Ukraine.^[17]

Before Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, she participated in community and charitable initiatives focused on Ukrainian cultural and educational development, as well as supporting newly arrived immigrants from Ukraine.^[18]

In 2022, she co-founded Mriya Aid, a volunteer non-profit organization uniting Canadian and international activists to assist Ukraine during the war. The organization focuses on providing Ukrainian sappers, military personnel, and emergency responders with essential equipment, personal protective gear, vehicles, and tools, as well as organizing training in humanitarian demining to international standards.^[19][20]

Since 2023, she has led Mriya Aid as CEO and chair of the board, overseeing donor and partner relations, and communication and educational programs.^[21][22]

From 2022 to 2025, Mriya Aid delivered 30 shipments including 12 shipping containers of humanitarian aid to Ukraine, including medical equipment, supplies for demining teams, and other critical resources for both civilian and military needs.^[23][24]

• Granger, L. (1996). "Notes on the Ukrainian Icon Tradition in Canada". In Klymasz, R. B. (ed.). Icon in Canada: Recent Findings from the Canadian Museum of Civilization. University of Ottawa Press. pp. 72–79. doi:10.2307/j.ctv16s45.10.

• Granger, L. A. (2018). "Encouraging the Use and Activation of Heritage Languages in the Broader Educational System". In Trifonas, P.; Aravossitas, T. (eds.). Handbook of Research and Practice in Heritage Language Education. Springer International Handbooks of Education. Cham: Springer. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-44694-3_16.