Congratulations to all the new DMs!!!
The Annex A, if I'm correct, needs to actually be signed by the applicant. So unless people have had success with signing it on one end, and scanning it, and sending it to the sponsor in Canada electronically, it will have to be physically mailed. He'll have to get that to you somehow in that scenario. I'm looking at a similar scenario. We did new photographs while I was up there for the holidays, but I left them there, not realizing I'd need the Annex A thing or a return envelope. The process seemed to change a bit between the December DMs and the January DMs. Time is a factor for us, so the cost of overnighting the Annex A is close to how much it is for me to just get bus tickets and go in person. I'm going to opt for the latter, and just stay until the COPR arrives.