I understand this to mean that you need to send the passport if in Canada. I think in Canada they want to see the actual doc (I guess because if you are coming from abroad the CBSA officers will examine the passport at landing, and here they are doing landing by post basically so they want to physically see it).I'm in Canada now. In my opinion they need only the copy of my passport
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3. In Canada, to the Case Processing Centre (CPC-O): Submitting your document(s) in Canada If you have a mailing address in Canada and if you and all the accompanying dependents on your application are currently in Canada and plan to be in Canada for at least three months, you may submit your passport(s) to the Case Processing Centre – Ottawa."[/I]
But do check with IRCC if you can. Im not certain, the instructions aren't perfectly clear.