Hi Fencesitter,
Let me get some information about your case. You, your wife and your child are all in China and you are a Canadian? Did the Consulate ask you to provide further proofs to show that you have the intention to go back to Canada? It looks like they did ask you to provide further proofs based on the fact that you worry so much about the "Letter of Release".
Let me share my case with you. My wife is a Canadian Chinese and we got married in 2009 and had our 1st kid in 2011. We are all in Hong Kong right now and my wife sponsored me by using the outland application. CIC received our application in October 2011 and transferred my application back to Hong Kong in December 2011 once the sponsorship was approved. In February 2012, I have received a letter asking me to provide further proofs that my wife has the intention to go back to Canada. They gave us a couple of examples in the letter, such as "Letter of Release" from the Hong Kong Inland Revenue Department (proving that my wife has paid all the outstanding taxes in order to go back Canada), Letter of Resignation, Closing the Bank Account, Letter of Employment (from a Canada Employer if my wife gets an offer) etc. We were asked to submit these information to the Consulate within 45 days; otherwise, they will consider that we give up the application and they will just make a decision based on the information they received previously.
So, we have submitted the Letter of Release and other information (e.g. we sold our house in HK already and showed all the emails between us and the real estate agent that we are looking for a house in Vancouver etc) to the Consulate at the end of February. (Yes, my wife did resign her job right away in order to keep our application going) We are now waiting for their further advise as to what we should do next. Based on our understanding (from one of our friends), when the Consulate asks you to show your intention to go back to Canada, it means that they will probably make a decision very soon. I heard that once they confirmed that the sponsor is planning to go back to Canada, the next stage would be sending you a letter asking you to get a Police Certificate for further processing (normally, when you receive such a request, they will tell you that they have waived the interview). Once they receive the police certificate (assuming that you have no criminial record), they will ask you for the passport to issue you the immigration visa.
So, I guess you just have to tell your boss that you have the intention to go back to Canada by submitting a Letter of Resignation so that they can give you a Notice of Resignation (your employer confirmed your last day with the company) as one of the proofs. Yes, it is a bit risky to resign your job now without a guarantee that you wife will get the immigration visa, but I guess we have no choice but to follow what the Consulate asks us to do. I guess you will probably get the visa in about 2-3 months once you let them know that you are planning to go back.
Let's cross our fingers.....
Cheers,
Hong Kong Guy