In 1996, Hasbro Canada recognized that Canadian players, who had already won the top American and World titles, needed an opportunity to test their mettle against each other.
Hasbro asked Mike Wise, a founding member of the Toronto Scrabble Club, to organize and direct the first Canadian Championship.
Joel Wapnick, a music professor at McGill and 1983 American Champion, defeated Albert Hahn, a truck driver from Calgary, in the finals.
The finals saw 1995 World Champion David Boys, a programmer analyst, win confidently against student Dean Saldanha by 3-1 (scores 465-304, 336-418, 402-291, 414-344).
The finals saw maths lecturer and 2005 World Champion Adam Logan beat education coordinator Tony Leah by 3-1 (scores 475-278, 402-385, 405-407, 438-403).