This is my timeline...
We received your application for a permanent resident card on November 27, 2014.
We started processing your application on February 24, 2015.
We sent you a letter on February 24, 2015. Please consider delays in mail delivery before contacting us.
We sent you a letter on July 3, 2015. Please consider delays in mail delivery before contacting us.
The second letter in July asked me to provide additional documents because I requested for urgent processing. My file was transferred to the Hamilton office somehow.
I got a letter from Hamilton on Nov 20 that my card has been approved and will be referred to Sydney for issuance. I called CIC on Monday and was told that it has not been produced, and I will probably only receive it in early January due to the high volume of work they have right now. I assume its the refugees.