How long does it take the Charities Directorate to answer a call, respond to a letter or respond to a charity application? Well, it depends. But you might find CRA’s Service standards for charities and charitable giving helpful in getting a sense of average times. For example over 80% of the time CRA answers calls within 2 minutes! When someone calls me I typically answer the phone within 3-5 seconds!
Service standards for charities and charitable giving
http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/gncy/prgrms_srvcs/stndrds/srvc-stdrds-chrts-gvng-eng.html#chrts2