I was in similar situation.
Received passport request when my parents were in Canada. Sent multiple webforms stating that my parents are here in Canada and requested for virtual landing. Even I tried calling them, but couldn't get connected. I figured it's going to take long time and I don't want to take any change. So, sent parents back to India and they submited their passports through VFS on 17-Oct. After 2+ weeks, today my parents got their COPR and stamped passport.
Just for clarity:
Received passport request on Oct 03 and submitted my first webform on same day. Got an update on Oct 27 for the web form stating 'the virtual landing team has granted access to the file and they will contact us'. Till not no update from virtual landing. I think the virtual landing team is handling with huge backlog.