According to CRA (I spoke to an agent who helped her husband immigrate to Canada), CIC is only interested in the latest tax returns (e.g. 2012 or 2011). They will not care about a return filed in 2008 because it is irrelevant for their purposes of determining if you are currently on welfare. As long as you show proof that you are employed and earning money, that's good enough and you shouldn't have any problems.
I didn't include an Option C, only my current employment status with notarized tax returns from China along with statements of earnings from my employer (note that submitting notarized tax returns from a foreign country is unnecessary, but something I believed would help bolster my case).
FS