The permanent resident card is the official proof that you hold PR status. New permanent residents are sent one, and people who got their status under the old Immigration Act can apply for one. The card belongs to the Crown rather than to you, so the department can require you to hand it back.
(1)For the purposes of subsection 31(1) of the Act, the document indicating the status of a permanent resident is a permanent resident card that is (a)provided by the Department to a person who has become a permanent resident under the Act; or (b)issued by the Department, on application, to a permanent resident who has become a permanent resident under the Act or a permanent resident who obtained that status under the Immigration Act, chapter I-2 of the Revised Statutes of Canada, 1985, as it read immediately before the coming into force of section 31 of the Act.
(2)A permanent resident card remains the property of Her Majesty in right of Canada at all times and must be returned to the Department on the Department’s request.