Migrant advocates in Quebec say they are dismayed by the province's assertion that it will not expand a program to grant residency to asylum seekers who've been working in the health-care system through the pandemic. But many criticized it for excluding the hundreds of other asylum seekers in essential jobs — from food processing, to transportation, and those who cleaned the rooms of patients with COVID-19. said Marjorie Villefranche, executive director of Maison d'Haiti, who met with Quebec Immigration Minister Nadine Girault earlier this month about the possibility of expanding the program. The deal with Ottawa, brokered in September, had followed months of reports about asylum seekers working essential service jobs while many other Quebecers stayed home. Villefranche and others, such as AQAADI, the Quebec Immigration Lawyers Association, say they won't back down.

Source: CBC News November 28, 2020 10:52 UTC