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You cannot have asylum claim while having an application under humanitarian grounds.

Also, they are changing the rules where you can only claim asylum within the first year of arriving to Canada, and it sounds like you have been here longer.

If you are not sure about the legal framework of compassionate grounds, maybe talk to a lawyers, as it sounds you might be confusing different programs.
He can claim asylum while waiting for H and C, but H and C will be put on hold pending outcome of asylum. New rules did not yet take effect. It is still proposal.