I was a bit shocked when I see the reply as well. But.... 24 years?? Yeah that's too much.
Not to disappoint you but to reinstate your PR status, your chance is just nil. You can't expect them to process something that's more than 2 decades ago, and is in clear breach of the current RO rule. If you have had some physical presence in the past 5 years, you might have a shot, but based on what you provided, it's 0 days out of the past 1825 days. There is basically no chance for them to consider any H&C ground assuming you have not tried to get in touch with them in the past 24 years.
If you want to come to Canada, you will have to start everything fresh.