The battalion incorporated the 90th Regiment Winnipeg Rifles which had a history dating back to 1883, elements of the 96th Lake Superior Regiment as well as fresh recruits from Brandon and Winnipeg, Manitoba and Kenora and Port Arthur, Ontario and was assigned the numeric designation as the 8th Battalion as part of a re-organization initiative of Minister of Militia and Defence Sam Hughes.

Company Sergeant-Major Frederick William Hall was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions on the night of 24 April 1915 during the Second Battle of Ypres.

He was one of the three Great War Victoria Cross recipients who lived in the 700 block of Pine Street in Winnipeg, the others being Leo Clarke and Robert Shankland.

[2][4] The 8th Battalion acquired their nickname of 'The Little Black Devils of Canada’ through its connection to its ancestor unit, the 90th Regiment "Winnipeg Rifles" who had earned the moniker during the North-West Rebellion.

During that conflict, government forces, clad in dark uniforms, combatted uprisings by the Métis people under Louis Riel and the Cree and Assiniboine of the District of Saskatchewan.