Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): The government is not in the business of justifying the difference. The explanation would be multifold, including the different circumstances — horrible though they are in both cases, in Afghanistan and surrounding area and in Ukraine and surrounding countries — with regard to the ease or difficulty with which the processing of interested refugees could take place.

In that regard, the government continues to do its very best to welcome as many refugees as it can from Ukraine and continue to work to reach higher levels of immigration from Afghanistan.

(For text of Delayed Answers, see Appendix.)