Cristiana Slautin : People of the CBSA — Video transcript

2020-10-09
Cristiana Slautin's story.

Transcript

I immigrated to Canada when I was about 11 years old... and I remember it being a very frightening experience, and I was just there with my mother.

I didn't know what to expect, I just heard that Canadians were nice. When we arrived, the BSO was just lovely. I remember he was just so caring and I had this really fun memory of this welcome.

My name is Cristiana Slautin and I am an SOTC with trade, and that stands for Senior Officer Trade Compliance. I love my job - that I learn so much. We are exposed to different products and we're exposed to different methods of inventory, of productions - like, we get to see how things are made and I think that's fascinating. We ensure that goods really are what they say they are.

If you're bringing a banana you're not claiming it to be a an apple, because an apple is duty-free. So we're just we're looking at the goods and we are ensuring that they are declared correctly and if they are declared under a duty-free agreement that they meet the requirements of that agreement.

I'm doing my due diligence to ensure that everyone is playing by the same rules and it's an even playing field there's no dumping there's no circumventing of the rules. It's important to promote economic development because it ensures Canada's future and growth is guaranteed. In order to be in this position we're looking for people who are business oriented. We also hire a lot of accountants to look at valuation methods used and people with experience in interpreting legislation and enforcing legislation - that's the kind of people that we're looking for. And really you have to be curious. You have to always be looking at where is this coming from, and again that's the fascinating part of the job is to see how things are made and you kind of go really deep into it. So curiosity also is an important aspect. As an immigrant I've always been thankful for the opportunities that the country has given me and I've always wanted to give back. I found this is a spot I want to be, this is what I want to do I want to in my capability protect Canadian economy, protect the country that I love.

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