This isn't you is it ???


http://www.cbc.ca/thisisthat/blog/20...bc-radio-host/

om reading further - - its a skit . . .

Oh Im sure there is someone in Ottawa working on this and proposing that we attend team building seminars like Walmart employees do.
I can imagine a group of us standing in a circle having to perform the CBSA chant

Who are we CBSA
What do we do Protect the border
Wooooooah go CBSA

I just hope the Poms Poms they give us match the colour of our uniform.

I saw the show for the first time last week and was frankly appalled at the attitude CBSA displays. I have watched the Australian, UK and Kiwi versions of the show extensively and found the border agents in those shows firm but fair. The Canadian agents seemed to be on a massive power trip. Examples:

- a young man returning from Japan who received heavy handed service to the point where he lashed out and got briefly arrested. The agents insisted on having his password to check his computer, despite there being no paticular reason to do do.

- a diminutive American woman who admitted to carrying some personal cannabis (as a licenced user) was HANDCUFFED and taken to a holding cell, before being refused entry. Shameful.

- an Iranian woman coming back from Iran with an undeclared $10,000, which is then confiscated by the pea-brain agent who assumes the paltry sum is some kind of organised crime money.

All the agents in this episode (Vancouver) were low on judgement high on power. FL please inform your colleagues tone down their ego, they are representing Canada, not the Gestapo.

So it's a real border guard?

What do you expect? They probably don't have a high school diploma between them.

I tend to think it was a skit as opposed to an actual interview with a CBSA official.

I have never denied we have some individuals who display a somewhat over zealous/intimidating disposition but programmes such as Border Security only show a snippet of what actually happened. Putting on handcuffs makes the show more interesting and the breaks make for a type of reality TV show leaving you wondering what will happen next

Its not all bollocks but spare me the drama. We have a job to do and yes some of the legislation is somewhat mindless but we don't make those laws. In fact if you look at a lot of the stoopid rules in place they fall under another Government Agencies legislation and mandate but they want us to enforce these rules.

The following subjects are not CBSA's rules but others

$20 limit on importation of dairy products
Firearms importations
RIV and vehicle import procedures
Importation of animals
Importation of fireworks
Amount of booze that can be imported into certain provinces
Provincial taxes to be collected
etc etc etc etc you now get my drift.

Yes we represent Canada but we are not WalMart greeters either. When was the last time you started work at 4am and had to clear a flight of 200 returning Canadians returning from Cancun who some are slightly the worse for wear on booze or pissed that they have to be at work in 3 hours and think that its highly amusing to be attempting to be ordering 2 beers from you.
Believe me that gets old after half a dozen times. You want to speak Spanish to me then fine go wait in secondary till we get an interpreter for you which might take a couple of hours
I treat people the way I expect to be treated but if they display that attitude of disdain to me then I have no qualms in telling that person to STFU and sit down where its warranted.

I can probably find several of our officers who hold higher educational qualifications including several degrees than you do but education doesnt always make the person smarter

Well thats debatable. But organizations like this and others like parking enforcement most often recruit psychologically damaged people at the low level end because they're more willing to do the nasty work.

Slightly off topic, more a curiosity

For the CBSA officers that work the US/Canada border booths, immigration, passport control at airports, what goes on in their heads when they don the uniform, do they take on a Dirty Harry (Hilda) persona believing they are enforcers & have so much power that no one can challenge the power they have?

Our powers are often challenged by individuals. The easiest way to deal with them is by knowing the legislation and if necessary showing them the jurisprudence usually a Supreme Court of Canada ruling and warning them of their failure to comply with a legal request and the consequences of failing to do so.
So when we don our uniform do you think we are out to give persons a hard time because we can or looking for those individuals who are willing to break the law and I don't mean the extra carton of smokes or bottle of booze individuals.
Yes some do it because they can but the vast majority of us don't.

I'm sure the counter staff at McDonald's interact with as many members of the public during a working day as border guards do, yet they always seem to be able to raise a smile and a "Hello, how can I help you?"

When you're in the queue at immigration you have to be vigilant for the next border guard who raises his eyebrow a quarter of an inch and waggles his fingertips at you. Arrogant sods.

But Im not trying to up sell you into super sizing your fries or buying an apple pie am I

The This is That sketch is satire. It can be a very funny show.

In jest, there is truth.

Civility and politeness costs nothing.