Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
In speaking first to the amendment, I would not support that amendment. It is not to replace the refugee determination process; it is to waive the refugee determination process. There is a distinct difference if you were to replace that versus to waive it. For all the other privately sponsored refugee processes, it is waived, so I would strenuously oppose the amendment.
The other piece, in speaking to the larger issue, I support this motion absolutely. There's no question. It has always been the NDP's view and my view that the government should apply special immigration measures equitably to all the different groups faced with conflict in different regions and persecution in different regions.
We are seeing a distinct difference in how the government is applying those measures with Ukrainians versus—we were just talking about it in this committee today—Afghans. It is wrong. It is wrong and it should not be done that way. As a witness from the special Afghanistan committee asked if their blood was not the same as that of Ukrainian nationals. We have to answer that question truthfully, with humanity. The answer is absolutely, yes, it is the same. If we want to stand on the podium and say that Canada cares and that we would apply humanitarian measures to people who face persecution, then we need to apply those measures equitably accordingly.
I would absolutely support this motion. By the way, this motion is not inconsistent with the press release that was issued by the chair a few weeks ago. That motion called for the government to apply that to all the regions. It gave some examples, but those examples were never meant to be exclusive of other groups. They were simply some examples. To that end, I would absolutely support the motion as tabled by Mr. Brunelle-Duceppe. I would reject the amendment accordingly.
Further to that, I would also ask, Madam Chair, that you respond on behalf of the committee to the Uighur project email that was sent to us. They were concerned that the committee's motion that was passed a few weeks ago excluded them. I think it is very important to indicate clearly that it was not an exclusive motion. It includes everyone. With that being said, this additional motion does not detract from that last one. It simply states clearly why this should be done in this instance.
Finally, once we vote on this amendment, I have an amendment to move. I think what's really important is that we get a response from the government on the motion that Mr. Brunelle-Duceppe has moved.