humanitarian and compassionate (H&C) grounds

Sometimes people can ask for an exception to immigration rules because they have what are called humanitarian and compassionate grounds.

The grounds, or reasons, can be almost anything that makes others feel compassion for the person making the application or a child they’re close to. The reasons often include hardship that they would face if they had to return to their home country and how established they are in Canada. The situation makes others want to help them.