Not weird. Ukranian immigrants have historically formed a huge component of Canada. It's much easier to intake culturally prepared populations.
For example: my family came here from Melitopol, albeit there generations ago. Currently it is Russian occupied territory. I'm emotionally invested in its reclamation in a way that I wasn't in regard to Syria.
You're trying to make this a racism thing. It's a cultural thing. If the UK was being invaded and we took British refugees in higher numbers, it would be similar.
That said, I am pro-intervention in both cases. I think NATO should just join the war in Ukraine, and I think a coalition should intervene in Syria. We have these hats that people wear on Remembrance Day with "Lest we forget" and a poppy, but it appears we've forgotten. Nuclear threats are just threats.
In fairness, it can be both: larger, settled populations of one ethnic group in a country make it easier for other members of the same group to integrate now, but that doesn’t mean there wasn’t (and isn’t) racism involved in making it harder for other ethnic groups to immigrate and settle in the past.