Volunteer Visa Question

We have a volunteer who arrived with visa exemption. When we applied to change it to non-O (volunteer) visa (TM87), we were told it can't be done anymore... because of the requirement to get approval from the Social Development office first.

Has anyone here recently obtain their volunteer visa after having arrived with visa exemption? I'd like to compare notes. Maybe it's dependent on the province.

Or perhaps an agent can get the change done.

The alternative is to send the volunteer back out the country to obtain a 90-day non-O visa - an unnecessary extra cost!

Thanks