My son has lived in Canada for all but eight months of his 49 years; having immigrated with my wife when I moved back up. When the government came up with the idea for the "Permanent Resident" card, he decided he should get one so he went in to apply. He was told it would take something like 280 business days to process. He asked how long it would take if he had just come in on a boat and was told, "usually about 4 weeks". I strongly suspect that race and national origin has something to do with it. As a white man of American birth, he's pretty low on the scale. GD
Im in exactly the same position. The PR cards also have to be renewed every 5-years. Its a real pain in the behind.
