Hon. Marilou McPhedran: Honourable senators, I wish to ask the Leader of the Government in the Senate a question about the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

What we know is we are seeing that innocent Ukrainian civilians need more support to face the brunt of a vicious world leader defying international law, and the unequal sympathy and treatment that Western countries, including Canada, have shown refugees from other conflict zones.

Minister Sean Fraser told us Canada is ready to welcome Ukrainians and that “there is no limit to the number of applications.” We are seeing this disparity between 43,000 Ukrainians and around 16,000 Afghans coming to our country. We have heard unpalatable discourse explaining that this has to do, essentially, with systemic racism.

Senator Gold, how does the government justify the vastly disparate treatment and outcomes in Ukrainian and Afghan resettlement efforts?