I could not follow some of your post, e.g. 'retired fund register' (is that some sort of Newfie thing?) -  or 'and I tired (sic - tried?) to get the 25% conversion out'.

Regardless, with an RRSP you can take out 100% of it at any time (it will be taxed as income). No ifs ands or buts about it. Repeat you can take out the total amount of an RRSP at any time with no restrictions, end of story. If somebody is telling you something different from this then you should run a mile.

Just to be sure, it is a RRSP that we are talking about, not something like a locked in retirement account? Or are you talking about a RRIF - there you do have to take out a minimum amount, prescribed by CRA, each year (but, again, you can take out the whole lot in one fell swoop if you wished to do so).