CANADA is known for many regional legends, and even in the game of Canadian Checkers, there exists a legend about the origin of the Canadian version. According to this legend, some time during the 19th century, a traveler came from Europe, where he had become enthralled with a game called ‘le jeu de dames’, or Draughts.

Here, in Canada, he tried to reproduce the same game but could not remember the actual number of squares on the playing board so he added an additional row of squares all the way around the game board, which created 144 squares in total. Therefore, the playing surface of the Canadian checkers game became a 12 x 12 board, instead of the 10 x 10 board of the European checkers strategy game. As a result, this game was named "le jeu de dames canadien” or Canadian checkers.

"Le jeu de dames canadien”, also known as Montreal or Quebec checkers, became a very popular game of strategy amongst the French-speaking communities of Quebec, Ontario, and New England. Later, the interest in this Canada checkers board game spread to other communities throughout Canada and is still a common activity pursued by many Canadian game enthusiasts, just as it is the world over. In fact, Canadian checkers game is also played in India and Sri Lanka.