During the First World War, over 4,000 Indigenous volunteered to enlist to fight for Canada despite not even having the right to vote in the country.
Among the thousands were Inuit from Labrador who made the journey down to St. John’s to enlist to fight with the Royal Newfoundland Regiment at at time when Newfoundland was its own dominion.
One of those Inuit was a man by the name of John Shiwak.
He was a hunter and trapper from the Inuit region of Nunatsiavut in northern Labrador. As a youth, his family name was Sikoak, meaning “newly formed ice” but this was changed by Harry Paddon of the Grenfell Mission to the more English-sounding Shiwak.
In August 1911, he met novelist William Lacey Amy on a coastal steamer while working for the Hudson’s Bay Company. The two became fast friends and Amy stated Shiwak was a natural poet, artist and narrator.
Upon enlistment for the war, Shiwak stood out as an expert sniper thanks to years of hunting seals.
Shiwak sailed to England with other troops aboard the Calgarian. On July 24, 1916, he arrived on the front lines of France where he put his sniper skills to immediate use. One officer said he was:
“the best sniper in the British Army.”
On April 16, 1917, Shiwak was promoted to lance-corporal.
The war was not easy for Shiwak, and he became depressed by the violence he saw on the front lines. Writing to family, he stated he wanted to return home to his friends and family.
Sadly, he never never returned home.
On Nov. 21, 1917, a shell exploded near him and killed him and six others during the Battle of Cambrai. He was only 28 years old. His burial site is unknown.
In speaking of Shiwak, Captain R.H. Tait wrote,
“His loss was keenly felt by the whole Regiment as he was a great favourite with all ranks, an excellent scout and observer, and a thoroughly good and reliable fellow in every way. Shiwak will long be remembered by all who knew him.”
While in France, Shiwak wrote many letters to his friend William Amy. In July 1918, Amy wrote “An Eskimo Patriot” for The Canadian Magazine, to tell the story of his friend and his sacrifice for Canada.
Shiwak was posthumously awarded the British War Medal and Victory Medal. His name is also inscribed on the memorial plaque on the Caribou Monument at the Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial in France.
In 2014, a residential wing at Memorial University of Newfoundland was named Shiwak Hall. In 2023, a plaque was installed where Shiwak died at Masnières, France. It is written in English, Inuttitut and French.