Judon,
I wrote about my personal experience last year at: http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/-t28554.0.html
It mentions a lot of other things as well, like my experience at the consulate general and with OHIP and Service Canada, so let me cut out the landing parts for you:
"I drove across the Queenstion-Lewiston Bridge (this is the Niagara-Fort Erie POE) to land. I explained to the Customs agent what I was doing and he asked me if I had anything with me or anything to follow. I told him no (I have already been in Canada for over two years and all my important stuff is already here), so he gave me a small form where he scribbled that I was landing and had no goods to follow, told me to park in lot 2, and go into the building that said Immigration. I did, and waited 5-10 minutes before an agent was available. I told him that I was landing as a PR, and he got really excited and exclaimed "Oh yeah!?" He was extremely friendly and pleasant. He first asked me if I had even been committed of a crime anywhere in the world, I said no, then he confirmed that I had nothing with me or to follow. He then confirmed if my address and phone number were as stated on the COPR. My address is the same but my phone number was different, so he scribbled the correct number on the COPR and updated it in his computer. He then had me sign the COPR, gave me my copy, and told me about my rights as a PR and about the card and how long it would take. He then welcomed me to Canada as a PR and I was done. All in all, the time spent from when the agent first called me to when I was finished landing and officially a PR was slightly less than 5 minutes."
"One interesting thing that the agent who landed me said: the COPR has a legend stating "NOT VALID FOR TRAVEL" and he also told me that it is not valid for travel and either wait for my PR card or get a travel document from the local diplomatic post if I have to travel before I get it. I told him I had heard that you can travel on it in your private vehicle, and he said that is correct. He then proceeded to explain that the reason you can't do it on commercial vehicles is not because of the border staff, but because of the carriers. He said that if you show up on the border with a COPR, no matter how you got there, even if you have no PR card. As he said, "You're a Permanent Resident, we don't care." Apparently this is because the commercial carriers are responsible if they take someone to the border with a COPR who turns out not to be valid, or if the person in question has lost PR status."
"4. My POE was a minor one (one of four in the Niagara region, and the only one that doesn't even have a NEXUS lane), so that probably helped with my process. When I first walked into Immigration there was only one man there, and one more arrived after me, who also happened to be landing."
"By the way, the exact border crossing I took was the Niagara-Fort Erie POE, which is on the Queenston-Lewiston Bridge. Very fast and low traffic. I recommend it."
I hope that helps! If you have any more questions about my personal experience, feel free to post here, in the original thread, or PM me.
