A question about non-import status

CFL Talk
1

Can anyone out there help me to understand the non-import designation. I looked it up in the CFL bylaws under section 8 (quoted at end) but am unclear of the exact intent of the by-law.

My questions are these.
If a team of elite 13 year-old Canadians train in Canada but travel to the USA to participate in a select tournament would they fall under point 3(a) or does point 4 (b) still apply.

Would point 4(b) still apply to a person under seventeen how lived in Canada for his first 16 years and then went to the USA for his last year of high school specifically to play football.

Thanks for your help.

  1. The following players shall be classified as import players:
    (a) A player who has received training in football outside of Canada by having participated as a player in a football game outside of Canada prior to attaining the age of seventeen years.

(b) A player who has received training in football outside of Canada by having participated in a football game as a player outside of Canada after attaining the age of seventeen years, but who has received no football training in Canada prior to attaining the age of seventeen years.
4. The following players shall be classified as non-import players:
(a) A player other than one referred to in paragraph 3.

(b) A player who was physically resident in Canada for an aggregate period of five years prior to attaining the age of fifteen years.

2

The latest amendment to the import rule, in the 2010 CBA, states:

“7. The following Players shall be classified as non-import Players: (a) A Player other than one referred to in paragraph 6. [amended previously from paragraph 3] (b) A Player classified as a non-import Player prior to November 28th, 2005. (c) A Player who is physically resident in Canada for an aggregate period of seven years prior to attaining the age of 15 years, or a Player who is a Canadian citizen and was physically resident in Canada for an aggregate period of five (5) years prior to attaining the age of 18 years.?
A player is classified as a non-import if he meets any one of the three categories. So in your example, the players would not fall under 7a (a single game outside Canada qualifies as "training outside Canada"), and also would not fall into 7b, but most would fall under 7c. But any player who doesn't fall under 7c would be classified as an import if he participated in even one game, which I suspect most high school coaches wouldn't know, and even if they did, they might not know which of their players would be at risk.