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For one local sports charity organization, the simmering trade war between Canada and the United States is akin to getting taken roughly into end boards by a bruiser on skates.

“It’s not a great thing. (Tariffs) are something that the families we support are feeling already,” Sara Restani, executive director of KidSport Ontario, told the Toronto Sun. “Equipment is probably the second biggest cost barrier when it comes to youth sports. The majority of those things are coming from outside the country.”

Last month, U.S. President Donald Trump imposed 50% duties on $28 billion in Canadian goods, including hockey equipment, golf and gym equipment and fishing rods. Canada retaliated, implementing additional tariffs on Sept. 8. Canada also targeted several categories of sporting goods, including tracksuits, ski suits and swimwear.

Bahoz Dara Aziz, director of communications for Secretary for Sport Minister Adam Van Koeverden, says the federal government is “working broadly to make sport more affordable,” but she doesn’t go into much detail on how the feds plan to assist struggling charities, not just in Toronto but nationwide.

“For us, at sport, we’re working broadly to make sport more affordable across the board and have a strong mandate in that sense,” Aziz said in a written statement to the Toronto Sun. “We do work directly with organizations to increase accessibility and to remove barriers to participation.”

KidSport Ontario is the provincial arm of KidSport Canada, a national not-for-profit charitable organization that provides financial assistance to kids aged 18 years old or younger. Through a confidential application process, KidSport provides grants that enable kids to play a season of sport through assistance with sport registration fees and equipment costs.

Bleak outlook for kids’ charity

“I don’t think we’re going to see (costs) slow down,” Restani said. “Costs are going to continue to rise, and it’s going to prevent more families from being able to put their kids into sports.”

The executive director said the Toronto chapter alone spent about $10,000 last year on equipment costs, before additional tariffs were imposed.

KidSport spent approximately $25,000 provincewide on equipment in 2025.

“It’s going to be substantially more this year,” she said. “I imagine that number is going to double.”

KidSport receives monies from various sources including the federal government, the provincial government, corporate partnerships, grassroots fundraising initiatives, golf tournaments, community events and individual donations.

All funds raised by the Toronto chapter stay in the community to get local kids off the sidelines and into a season of sport.

“We have supported up to 500 children so far this year,” Restani said. On average, each approved child gets approximately $300 in funding.

Demand outpacing supply

Unfortunately, demand is far outpacing supply.

“We have received probably anywhere from 100 to 150% more applications than we’re able to fund,” Restani said.

No doubt, that is the real tragedy right there.

“We really need to start looking at these types of sport programs as important, and once we do, we can hopefully start putting the effort behind it to ensure that everyone gets to participate,” Restani said.

In her opinion, Restani doesn’t expect the government to move on the issue, but a work-around solution for her organization is coming from the retail sector.

“We have a great partnership with Source for Sports,” she said. “They will do everything from donating prizes to running events in store to participate in activities we’re doing. They’ve included us in some of the bigger projects that they work on, everything from their trade shows and events. I know some franchise owners have provided equipment at a discount to support families. If they receive a grant from us, they will offer a discount to those families.”

Restani said her organization is grateful to have support from the retail sector, where other charities may not have such advantages.

“We’re incredibly lucky that we have a very committed and dedicated group of donors and supporters who run fundraisers for us every year,” she said.

The Sun contacted two additional sports charities in the city for this story, but they did not respond to various emails.

In the end, Restani said the only people hurt in this simmering issue are the children left on the sidelines instead of getting in the game.

“These kids don’t know what’s involved, but they tend to be the ones that are going to feel the most because so often sport is viewed as a luxury, as opposed to what we consider a sport as being a valuable part of a child’s development,” Restani said. “Until the collective is willing to put in the work and put in the effort to see sport in that way, it’s always going to be considered a luxury, and it’s going to fall by the wayside as costs go up.”

ganderson@postmedia.com

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