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?

Hon. Marilou McPhedran: Honourable senators, my question is for the Government Representative in the Senate.

As some of my colleagues have already mentioned, we have less than 8,000 of the initial 20,000 Afghan refugees resettled in Canada. We have a problem, Senator Gold, and my question is with regard to the inaction of cabinet in actually following through on the election promise to increase our commitment to 40,000 — a promise that was then placed in Minister Fraser’s mandate letter.

Now many senators face a situation where, in trying to assist people to get to Canada — people whom we have managed to help to get out of Afghanistan — are now caught in limbo in many different countries, Ukraine being one example and Sri Lanka another.

For example, there is a 20-year-old woman very much at risk in another country. In trying to find a place for her in the allotments, what became clear, in speaking to agencies that are supposed to have the spaces allocated to them by our government, is that there are currently no spaces.

Why is that? Because cabinet has not yet officially followed through on that promise to increase the number to 40,000. We therefore have not yet had an allocation of the spaces. In some cases we are able to facilitate bringing Afghans to Canada, including women at risk, but the agencies that can help them don’t have the spaces they need.

My question to you, Senator Gold, and to the government is this: What is the delay? When can we see this very simple, straightforward decision to implement a promise actually fulfilled?

Senator McPhedran: Senator Gold, could you please commit to conveying to the government the specific request that they take action and do what they need as cabinet and confirm this decision of 40,000 spaces, release the second 20,000 spaces and get the allotments out to the organizations that are waiting to help? They are paralyzed because this commitment has not been made.

Hon. Marilou McPhedran: Honourable senators, on December 16 this week, the long-awaited mandate letters were released. In the mandate letter of the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, the Honourable Sean Fraser, this is stated:

With the support of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, continue to facilitate the safe passage and resettlement of vulnerable people from Afghanistan, with an emphasis on individuals who supported Canada and our allies over the past two decades, women, LGBTQ2 people, human rights defenders . . . .

The list goes on. It ends with the statement, “. . . increase the number of eligible refugees from 20,000 to at least 40,000.”

Senator Gold, there are many desperate people in Afghanistan. Some of them, though, specifically meet the criteria of this high priority group. One of them wrote to me more than three months ago. I shared her information with some senators as well as some very high-ranking people. We have all reached out because this particular woman — and I will use her name, Zora — meets all of the requirements. People working at her side in the non-governmental organization funded entirely by Canada are out. We have made numerous attempts — I count five so far. Documents have been lost. Automatic replies have been sent when more specific attention should have been paid. There have been documented death threats to Zora and her family. It goes on and on.

All I would ask of you, Senator Gold, is to please convey this to the minister, to the Prime Minister and to everyone to whom it’s now clear that we have made a commitment as a country? It has been confirmed in the mandate letter that we must increase the number to at least 40,000. Please, could we see an acceleration and a focus on those who meet our highest-risk definition, including women like Zora?

Hon. Marilou McPhedran: Honourable senators, my question is to the Government Representative in the Senate, Senator Gold. I want to ask a follow-up question to the previous reference I made to young women athletes. October 15 was actually an excellent day for Canada. That was the day when we saw 200 girls from an Afghan school flown into Canada and resettled here in record time. Would that it be the standard we are seeing most of the time, but it is not.

My question is about whether the Government of Canada, and in particular Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada and Minister Sean Fraser, could advise through a question from you whether they are conducting gender-based analysis on the evacuation and resettlement of Afghans coming to Canada. The anecdotal evidence would suggest that — even though we have a feminist foreign policy and we have the previous minister Marco Mendicino making a very strong set of statements promising that women at extreme risk would be in a priority area — our numbers relative to other countries are, in fact, low. If you would, seek clarification on this, please.

Senator McPhedran: Actually, what we are told from inside the IRCC, when many of us in this room try to get more women parliamentarians and athletes to safety, is that the second 20,000 of the promised 40,000 is held up in cabinet right now. For some reason it hasn’t been cleared. Lives are at risk.

Senator Gold, would you please ask them why they are not following through, activating and becoming much more efficient, as is needed, for all of the 40,000 promised?

Hon. Marilou McPhedran: Honourable senators, before the fall of Kabul on August 15 — ironically on the same day that a federal election was called in Canada — a letter from women civil society leaders, such as Senators Mobina Jaffer, Rosa Galvez, Julie Miville-Dechêne, Donna Dasko, Paula Simons and me, went to Prime Minister Trudeau, to key cabinet ministers and to key ambassadors, urging Canada to take a strong international lead by applying our feminist foreign policy skills and resources to helping the people of Afghanistan, in particular to recognize that women leaders were at extremely high risk.

This week, every member of the Canadian women’s soccer gold medal team signed another letter to the Prime Minister, with many international sports leaders and organizations, calling for leadership and follow-through on evacuation and resettlement promises that Canada has made since mid-August, noting that Canada has helped fewer women athletes at extreme risk than Australia, Portugal, Switzerland and the U.K., for example.

Senator Gold, Afghanistan’s women athletes are targeted by the Taliban. “Athlete” is listed on their passports. I ask you “when?” Even though donations have poured in and there are planes waiting, why, after months now, are so many of these athletes still without their visas to Canada? When will Canada start issuing visas more efficiently to save those lives?