A.Y.S.A. Amateur Youth Soccer Association v. Canada (Revenue Agency), 2007 DTC 5527, 2007 SCC 42, [2007] 3 SCR 217 -- summary under Charitable Organization

An organization that was devoted to the promotion of amateur youth soccer in Ontario was not precluded from arguing that its activities were devoted to charitable purposes notwithstanding that it did not qualify as a registered Canadian amateur athletic association (an "RCAAA") (given its restriction to Ontario communities): the words used by Parliament respecting RCAAAs did not show any intention that the regime for such associations would occupy the field for sports associations so that an association which could not qualify as an RCAAA could not qualify as being a charity. However, the scheme of the Act (which made a distinction between non-profit organizations operated exclusively for social welfare, and charities) signalled that the Act did not support a wide expansion of the definition of charity, in recognizing sports and recreation organizations as being charitable would be "closer to wholesale reform than incremental change" (para. 44). Accordingly, the appellant did not qualify for registration as a charity.