History
In 1854, three British army officers raced on the St. Lawrence River, going from Montreal to Quebec City, which marked Canada's first recorded ice skating race. It is believed that from then on, ice skating races became a part of Canadian culture.
In 1887, the Amateur Skating Association of Canada was formed. That year, the first official speed skating championships took place. At that time, figure skating and speed skating shared an organization, however the needs of the speed skaters were predominant. In 1894, the Amateur Skating Association of Canada became the first non-European organization to be a member of the International Skating Union.
In 1905, short track speed skating was created and gaining popularity in Canada and the United States.
In 1939, the figure skaters formed their own organization and thus the Amateur Skating Association of Canada was made up of speed skaters only. Now that it was a speed skating only organization, the name was changed to the Canadian Amateur Speed Skating Association (or CASSA) in 1960.
It was not until 2000 that CASSA changed their name, yet again, to Speed Skating Canada.
Read more about this topic: Speed Skating Canada
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