Introduction
I recently got admission at Fleming College in their own Customs and Border Services (CBSA) curriculum, and I hope to become a CBSA Executive in the coming years. I am writing this paper for CBSA new immigrants to the social category. While deciding whether to enter this career field, I had a series of doubts, and I am convinced that the new immigrants and those willing to participate in this profession will have the same. They might be questioning themselves if becoming a CBSA official is as dangerous as it appears or which methods of communication are used among members throughout multiple operations. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to inform new immigrants about the most relevant issues of CBSA. As for the method, I will describe the primary mechanisms of functioning of a community, its main requirements, and essential characteristics. I have used such sources as Swales’s work about discourse community. Thus, this paper is intended for new arrivals who want to become a member of the CBSA.
Background
The Customs and Border Services Agency (CBSA) has quite a long history and several peculiarities. It was established in 2003; traditions in Canada, on the other hand, go back to 1701 (Canada Border Services, 2021). The first border crossing had been in Nova Scotia, known as the Port of Annapolis Royal. In Canada, there are still nearly one thousand, two hundred access points, which would include checkpoints, office buildings, pick-up and delivery detention facilities, airfields, suffering storage facilities, and a variety of many other stations.
As for requirements, the CBSA invites people with self-discipline and good judgment. As for education requirements, arrivals with high school diplomas can apply for entering, but a bachelor’s degree gives a candidate more chances. It is necessary to pass the officer trainee entrance exam, which involves online multiply-choices questions that check candidates’ skills and competencies. The CBSA also requires certifications about completing two firearms courses.
New members should know that Security workers are in charge of these entry points; they ensure that visitors, commodities, and even citizens arriving in the country are safe and pose no danger. The officials of this community are permitted to guarantee that all participants and commodities coming into the country are legal. They are the guardians of the nation’s sovereignty, protection, and wellbeing. CBSA Security personnel are distinctive because they are the only state officials who can conduct unjustified inquests.
Research and Analysis
Due to my interview with one of the border agents, I collected valuable data which could be helpful to new members. In response to my question about forms of conversation used among members through specific operations, he has claimed that officials are using a range of distinct forms of dialogue. Each channel of information is a categorized programming technique utilized so that officials at different phases of the pre-processing step can figure out what is going on with a specific visitor. As for the types of messages, he replied that CBSA agents generate or create a wide range of paperwork.
A discourse community has several specific characteristics that distinguish it from others. According to Swales (2019, p. 1085), the community has six peculiarities, including “a broadly agreed set of goals” and “mechanisms of intercommunication among its members.” Such Swales’s characteristics of discourse community related to communication as interaction mechanisms, participatory communication, lexis, and a standard of knowledge are applied to the CBSA. Firstly, the community has specific tools of interaction among its participants, as seen from my interview with the border agent. Secondly, it also possesses “participatory communication methods” and lexis: the CBSA has a unique language that is not common to the general public, unlike the other law enforcement agencies (Swales, 2019, p. 1085). Thirdly, there are documents and stereos to ensure that individuals and objects are being investigated in line with the regulations established by the legislature of Canada. Thus, the agency’s members have several qualities that define them as a discourse community.
Conclusions and Recommendations
The CBSA society has its number of processes and formation of interoperability, dialect, and objectives. Many individuals are willing to work for the CBSA but are unaware of how challenging it can be. Based on the data collected, interviews, and remarks, I had also devised the proper procedures to assist people in becoming CBSA Officers:
- Begin speaking to high-ranking officers and inquire about their recruiting process, the placement you are interested in, and how they had to prepare for the work.
- Learn how to categorize things in the Canadian Import tariffs as quickly as possible. The officers would use the import duty regularly and are not allowed to make any errors when classifying commodities.
- Be willing to collaborate on unforeseen shift patterns, be aware that you will be working overtime, and be ready to cooperate in isolated places; police are always needed across the country.
References
Canada Border Services Agency mandate. (2021). Canada.ca. Web.
Swales, J. (2019). Reflections on the concept of a discourse community. In E. Wardle & D. Downs (Eds.), Writing about writing (4th ed., pp. 1066-1090). Bedford/St. Martin’s.