Pre-dating the development of the current club system in Canada, competitions at the University level in Artistic Swimming have existed since 1948. The first four universities to participate in these competitions were McGill University, Western University, University of Toronto, and Queen’s University.

Artistic Swimming was a part of the OUA until 2001. With only 5 universities competing in the OUA league at the time, the OUA voted to cancel OUA sanctioned varsity artistic swimming events due to low participation. The final OUA sanctioned competition was held at Queen’s University on February 11^th 2001.

Despite this, universities with active participation, including McGill University, Queen’s University, the University of Guelph, and the University of Toronto, wanted to continue competing. Athletes held meetings throughout the summer and fall of 2001 to discuss how to continue swimming and how to open the league to participation from those with no varsity status.

In the fall of 2001, Kristina Buchmann from McGill University suggested creating a league independently. Representatives from McGill University, Queen’s University, the University of Guelph, the University of Toronto, Brock University, and Western University, founded the Canadian University Synchro Swim League which was officially incorporated as a Not for Profit organization on January 2^nd 2002.

Teams continued to compete throughout the 2001-2002 season, participating in two meets, one at Keuka College in New York State and another at Queen’s University.

In the first full season as an official organization, the 2003 Championship Meet was held at Brock University on February 8^th, 2003. This meet was attended by 120 people, including swimmers, coaches, parents, and supporters.

At the Annual General Meeting in 2018, held in Belleville, Ontario, the league voted to change the name from Canadian University Synchro Swim League to Canadian University Artistic Swimming League. The change will take effect as of September 2018.

As of 2018, our league has now grown to 22 universities on all coasts with active participation, and over 250 swimmers and 45 coaches. The league is governed by volunteer students who are swimmers and coaches.