Whenever I fill up PDFs for my work visa to the US, I saw paperwork reduction act or something written on the PDFs. I thought it was to reduce paper usage or was it paperwork ?. But in the end, there is always a pile of paper. I would say in the last mile of the process paper is used. I applied for Canadian immigration fully online. But in the end they asked "signed certified photocopies", statements, declarations, consents, affidavits everything in paper with notary's ink seal and sign.

Maybe the laws has to change too. Many laws & processes still needs ink seal and signatures. A digital signature or a digital photo is not enough.