Yes and even their approach is significantly changed when I called them. She didn’t give me any proper response and just said, background check for your application is at very early stage. I don’t know how long more we need to wait. When I googled it that background check takes a month for normal applications and a year for complex applications. They should change the program name since there is no humanitarian and compassionate anymore.
This program was created for a small amount of exceptional circumstances but many are now using it as an option for PR when they have no other options. That was not the purpose of the program so I agree there needs to be significant reforms. The reforms will likely have to weed out very early on who is just trying to secure PR and who really has exceptional circumstances and this process will discourage people from applying just to extend their stays in Canada. When reforms do come in I assume many will want to go back to the old system. Processing may get faster but who will actually qualify will likely decrease dramatically.