Hon. Ratna Omidvar: Honourable senators, my question is for Senator Gold, and it is about Ukraine. As you know, there are two paths for entry into Canada for visitors. In one stream, citizens of countries like the U.K., Italy, Portugal, Spain and countries like Poland, Latvia, Mexico and Croatia fill out an online form and get a response within a day authorizing their entrance into Canada. It runs smooth as silk.

The second stream, which includes countries like Russia, but also Ukraine, must fill out a fairly onerous application, file it with the embassy, stand in line to get the authorization, stand in line to get the stamp, and, of course, this could be fine in ordinary times.

These are not ordinary times for Ukraine. More than 165,000 Ukrainians have applied for entry into Canada, but only 54,000 have been authorized under the new emergency travel program. Therefore, we’re looking at yet another backlog in an already backlogged system.

Today, at the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, we heard from Minister Joly who declared that Canada is Ukraine’s best friend.

Will Canada act as a best friend and extend express travel authorization for Ukrainians as well?