OpenVisaI was sponsored myself less than 5 years ago. Can I sponsor now?
The clock runs from the day you became a permanent resident.
The 5 years run from the date on your own confirmation of permanent residence. Divorce and Canadian citizenship don't shorten them.
1. What does the rule say?
You may not be eligible to sponsor your spouse or partner if you were sponsored by a spouse or partner and you became a permanent resident less than 5 years ago.
The regulation behind it counts the 5 years from the day you became a permanent resident, and becoming a Canadian citizen in the meantime doesn't stop the count: IRPR s.130(3).
2. Does it apply if my first sponsor and I divorced?
Yes. The bar is about how you got your own permanent residence, not about the state of that relationship now.
3. Does it apply to sponsoring a child or a parent?
No. The 5-year bar is specific to sponsoring a new spouse, common-law or conjugal partner. Other sponsorship categories have their own rules.
4. What can we do in the meantime?
The applicant can hold temporary status in Canada on their own merits (visitor, study or work permit) until the date passes, and the sponsorship can be filed from that day. How status is kept is on what happens when status expires.
5. On the form
The sponsor's form (IMM 1344) asks whether you were sponsored as a spouse or partner and when you became a permanent resident. The date on your confirmation of permanent residence is the one that counts.
OpenVisa is software, not a lawyer or RCIC. This page explains what the rules and forms say; it is not advice about your case. You submit your application yourself.