Maybe this should go under "Things that are pissing you off", but anyway...
I order a couple of alligator leather watch straps from Sirtoli. They took their time getting here due to the postal strike, but then I received a warning notice from Environment Canada this week saying that I was unlawfully importing genuine alligator skin product because I didn't have a permit.
Has this happened to other Canucks here? What did you do?
I'm a noob at this and really didn't know a permit was needed. I have 90 days to make my case, after which I forfeit the straps. As I learned this week, the only ways to get out of this seem to be:
1) Prove those straps have been mine since 1975;
2) Prove that I'm a recently landed immigrant and those straps are part of my possessions; or
3) Prove that I'm inheriting those straps from someone who died recently outside of Canada.
Since those scenarios don't apply to me, do I just wait three months for the axe to fall? Would I be hit with a fine?
What pisses me off is those straps were made with Louisiana alligator leather, and those alligators are not the least bit endangered, and they wound up on CITES' species list only because they look like some endangered crocs and alligators.
Do watch lovers all get permits in Canada or something? This is ridiculous. Sirtoli tells me this has never happened with the straps sent to Canada or anywhere else.
I order a couple of alligator leather watch straps from Sirtoli. They took their time getting here due to the postal strike, but then I received a warning notice from Environment Canada this week saying that I was unlawfully importing genuine alligator skin product because I didn't have a permit.
Has this happened to other Canucks here? What did you do?
I'm a noob at this and really didn't know a permit was needed. I have 90 days to make my case, after which I forfeit the straps. As I learned this week, the only ways to get out of this seem to be:
1) Prove those straps have been mine since 1975;
2) Prove that I'm a recently landed immigrant and those straps are part of my possessions; or
3) Prove that I'm inheriting those straps from someone who died recently outside of Canada.
Since those scenarios don't apply to me, do I just wait three months for the axe to fall? Would I be hit with a fine?
What pisses me off is those straps were made with Louisiana alligator leather, and those alligators are not the least bit endangered, and they wound up on CITES' species list only because they look like some endangered crocs and alligators.
Do watch lovers all get permits in Canada or something? This is ridiculous. Sirtoli tells me this has never happened with the straps sent to Canada or anywhere else.
