The Canadian national team debuted in 2007, where they played two matches against the United States at Thunderbird Stadium in Vancouver, British Columbia. They competed as the "Eagles", were captained by Claire Brown and coached by Jake Anson, both of Calgary.
In 2008, the team moniker changed to the "Northern Lights" to bring a distinct Canadian identity to the team and a national women's footy development program commenced.
In July, 2010, the Northern Lights defeated the USA Freedom played at Humber College in Toronto, 4-12-36 to 2-4-16. This was the inaugural 49th Parallel Cup game between the two countries.
In 2011, Tristan Waldock became Head Coach. The Northern Lights made their debut in the 2011 International Cup tournament in Melbourne and Sydney, Australia. Led on the field by Captain Aimee Legault, the Lights comfortably beat Papua New Guinea, USA and the Australian composite side and made it to the final. Despite a gallant effort the Lights were beaten by Ireland 5-9-39 to 1-2-8.
In 2012, the Northern Lights, coached again by Tristan Waldock and captained by Aimee Legault were narrowly defeated by the USA freedom 6-7-43 to 5-8-38 at the 49th Parallel Cup in Dublin Ohio in extremely warm conditions.
In 2013, Jason Arnold became Head Coach. Later that year, the Northern Lights, despite Captain Aimee Legault being on the sidelines, regained the Parallel Cup. Ably led by Co-captains Erin Loughnane and Hilary Perry and MVP Emma Dickinson, the Lights led from start to finish for an emphatic 86 pt victory over the USA Freedom in Edmonton 13-9-87 to 0-1-1.
2014 saw the Northern Lights head to Australia to compete in the International Cup in Melbourne motivated to avenge their loss to Ireland in 2011. The Lights had comfortable wins in the preliminary rounds over USA Freedom (8-13-61 to 1-1-7), USA Liberty (19-11-125 to 0-0-0), Fiji (9-13-67 to 0-2-2) and recorded a tournament all time record win over Tonga (22-12-144 to 2-0-12). This set up a rematch against the Irish in the Grand Final at Punt Rd. In a dominant display the Northern Lights led from start to finish to record a historic victory 5-8-38 to 2-0-12. Captain Aimee Legault was a standout winning the MVP for the Grand Final to join her tournament MVP award. While it was fantastic team effort, a number of Lights were rewarded for their performances by being voted into the IC World team. They were Hilary Perry, Emma Dickinson, Kirsten Bodashefsky, Kendra Heil, Lara Hilmi and Danah Arnold.
The International Cup also provided an opportunity for our development side the Midnight Suns to compete due to the withdrawal of Papua New Guinea at the last minute. Within a matter of weeks of their withdrawal, a squad of players and coaching staff were assembled which indicated the commitment of our players to the sport. Coached by Mark Peterson, The Suns amazingly beat Tonga (4-7-31 to 1-1-7) in their first game before succumbing to the stronger USA Freedom (1-2-8 to 9-10-64) and Ireland (2-1-13 to 11-12-78). In their final game of the preliminary round the Suns comfortably accounted for the USA development team the USA Liberty and this matched them up against the USA Freedom in a playoff for third. Despite a gallant effort the Freedom were too strong for the Suns however 4th was an incredible finish for a squad that had no preparation time leading in. Captain Renee Tong and Veronica Fernandez were rewarded for their performances throughout the tournament by gaining selection in the World team.