My Mistake: Never Surrender Voluntarily

In retrospect I made two important errors in my dealings with CCRA Officer 12078. I had asked to speak to a supervisor, which apparently I am entitled to. When the Officer informed me that was not possible, it should have been a clue that Officer 12078 was acting improperly and that he knew it.

Talking to a supervisor would have most likely resolved the situation then and there, and I would have been permitted to proceed with my property.

However, the much bigger mistake was another error on my part, partially out of ignorance of my rights.

when Officer 12078 refused entry of my property, he said I had two choices,

1: Return the item to the states, or
2: Abandon it

The officer failed to advise me of a third option, namely, that I could refuse to take it back, and refuse to surrender it. I could instead have insisted that Officer 12078 CONFISCATE the item. The advantage of this would be that he would have had to give me a receipt stating the CCRA regulation that allowed him to confiscate the item, and I would have had the right to appeal his action.

Since Officer 12078 was acting unlawfuly, I doubt very much if he would have persued the matter and actually confiscated it. I probably would have been let go with a stern warning about bringing such weapons into Canada in the future.

Had the officer been acting properly, he would have been more than happy to confiscate the item, and would have quite willingly given me a receipt stating which CCRA regulation had been violated.

Bottom line, always ask to speak to a supervisor, but more important:

Never voluntarily surrender your property, INSIST that the agent confiscate it.

Once you voluntarily surrender the item, you have given up any possibility of getting it back, and you save the CCRA officer the problem of having to justify an illegal act. The thing is, if the item is legal, he probably WON'T pursue the matter.

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