The Federal government is in works to introduce a new program that would grant permanent residency to asylum seekers who have worked in health-care roles during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This will be a temporary measure, which will grant permanent residence, and is expected to cover all regions of Canada. The program may be officially launched in the coming weeks, according to information obtained by Radio-Canada.

As far as the number of asylum seekers that will be benefit from this program, it is unclear, but most of them will be from Quebec. The proposed program, would extend beyond those who worked in long-term care homes, known in Quebec as CHSLDs, to all asylum seekers who have been working in the health system, including security guards, but not to asylum seekers who worked in other sectors, even if they were “essential services” jobs.