As far as I am aware FP request is only for criminality (they want to root out the possibility the applicant committed an indictable offense). Some people simply clear it without needing FP. That seems to be the first stage of background.
Then if you never got FP but are otherwise in process, it could be that your criminality check has already passed, and they are just lazy or working on CBSA/CSIS stuff. It seems like the latter can happen even if there is no red flag for whatever purposes, and for most people they just automatically pass (?)