Canadian Women's Intercollegiate Athletic Union : In 1968, there were four Canadian Women's Athletic Conferences. The need for a national body to coordinate these led to the founding of the Canadian Women's Intercollegiate Athletic Union, which was approved in principle in June 1968 at a University Women's Physical Education Committee meeting. In June 1969, a Committee on National Intercollegiate Competition was formed out of participants of the Four Conferences that had participated in the 1968 meeting. Those Conferences were the AWIAA, the WIAU, the OQWCIA and the WCIAA. The CWIAU was officially formed in December 1969. Its purpose was to provide a sturcture through which national intercollegiate championships for women could be encouraged and conducted. The union assisted the athletes, the coaches and the Women's Athletics administrators as well.
In 1973, it affiliated with the CIAU, was incorporated in 1974 and was amalgamated with the CIAU in 1978. The administrative structure of the CWIAU was composed of the Representative Council, the Board of Directors and the Executive. The governing body was the Representative Council which was composed of representatives from each of the four Women's Intercollegiate Conferences in Canada. The Board of Directors served as an advisory group and was composed of the Directors from the Women's Athletics member institutions. The Executive was the administrative body of the Union. It was composed of a president, a president-elect, a secretary-treasurer and an historian. The Union used the name Canadian Intercollegiate Athletic Union (Women) for a short period of time, starting in 1970.
The Union had to face communications and financing problems. Its survival depended largely on the financial support of Sports Canada. With the grants it received, the CWIAU was able to organise their meetings but most of all to conduct national championships. In 1970, unofficial national championships for volleyball took place. Sponsored national championships began in 1971. Gymnastics, swimming and diving championships started the same year. Basketball only started in 1972. Even if the main interest of CWIAU was on a national level, the Union also took part in preparing and advising for international championships such as the 1973 FISU Games and the 1976 Olympics.
