You got extremely lucky. Illegal work can be grounds for a one year exclusion order from Canada (meaning you have to leave and can't re-enter for a full calendar year). At a minimum, most people are told to leave Canada. You ran into a very sympathetic officer. Rightly or wrongly, the obligation was 100% on you to understand the terms of your visitor status and to understand what you were or were not allowed to do. I think it's fairly logical that being paid do to anything is work in any country. I don't think that requires expert immigration knowledge - just common sense.mollybloom said:That's absolutely understandable. I certainly wish I had known all that I know now when I first entered Canada and filed my initial application for PR. I would expect that the CIC and CBSA realize that we're not all immigration experts and will make mistakes; nonetheless, immigration is a terrifying process.
Thanks for your replies!
Anyway - like I said - you got lucky. I don't think you have anything to worry about going forward.