COVID -19, just shy of his 44th birthday. He was an essential worker and a refugee claimant.“Mr. St-Pierre, who died, was working in the auto industry,” explained Paule Robitaille, Quebec MNA for the Bourassa-Sauvé riding.Since December 2020, people applying for refugee status who worked on the COVID-19 front lines were able to start applying for permanent residency status, but only those who worked in health care.