I hope you've managed to find out about that by now...
Regarding processing times... In Europe/North Africa, which goes through the Canadian Embassy in Paris, it takes around 4 years for you to get an answer from them! From that time, things can be fast. In my case, it took more six to seven months to send them new reference letters, medical exams, banks statements, criminal records, etc.
Before concentrating the entire continent's immigration services in Paris, each Canadian embassy dealt in Europe dealt with this issues on its own, and waiting times could be from months to a year. Processing time for British subjects, through the Canadian High Commission, is around this as well. I read stories of South Americans immigrants who applied through Sao Paulo in brazil, or Mexico, and waiting times were considerably shorter as well. I wonder how long it takes applying from Africa, India, Asia and so on.