{"id":800387,"date":"2026-07-14T02:27:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T02:27:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/800387\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T02:27:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T02:27:12","slug":"agreement-will-see-sacred-manitou-stone-moved-to-new-home-in-elk-island-national-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/800387\/","title":{"rendered":"Agreement will see sacred Manitou Stone moved to new home in Elk Island National Park"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Text<\/p>\n

Listen to this article<\/p>\n

Estimated 4 minutes<\/p>\n

The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n

A plan has been reached to move a meteorite that is sacred to many First Nations from a museum in Edmonton to a new home on a former golf course in Elk Island National Park.<\/p>\n

Finding a home for the Manitou Asin\u00eey \u2014 also known as the Manitou Stone \u2014 has been\u00a0 decades in the making, with First Nations in Alberta and Saskatchewan spearheading efforts to find an appropriate permanent location for the stone.<\/p>\n

At an announcement Monday, representatives from the federal government and the Manitou Asin\u00eey-Iniskim-Tsa Xani Centre (MAITX) signed a memorandum of understanding to establish a permanent home for the 145-kilogram iron meteorite in Elk Island National Park.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe vision will be to have a building on the golf course where the [stone] will be housed. Where people can come have ceremonies. The Dene, the Cree, the Blackfoot, we can all have ceremonies,\u201d said Blaine Favel, a member of the board of directors for MAITX.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0 First Nations-led, not-for-profit was formed in 2023 with the goal of securing land and funding to create a centre to \u201crematriate the Manitou Stone.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

It says the ancient artifact, believed to have landed near Hardisty, Alta., approximately 200 kilometres southwest of Edmonton, once served as a gathering place for tribes. <\/p>\n

In 1866, a missionary took the stone. It eventually ended up in Ontario where it was displayed at a college in Cobourg, Ont., east of Toronto.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"AA design concept for the centre that will house the Manitou Stone. (Tawaw Architecture Collective Inc.)<\/p>\n

The Royal Alberta Museum brought the rock back to Alberta in 1972. It is still on display in the museum\u2019s downtown Edmonton space, in a quiet gallery on an upper floor.<\/p>\n

Although the initial plan was to return the stone to its original site near Hardisty, Favel said it was later decided the national park would be a better fit.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs much as we fought to bring it back to Hardisty, it didn\u2019t belong there anymore \u2026 The land\u2019s cleared. There\u2019s no more buffalo. There\u2019s no more wildness,\u201d Favel said.<\/p>\n

Favel noted that the preserved landscape and wildlife of the national park made it an ideal setting for the stone\u2019s return.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you look to [places] in Western Canada, where is the only place that would have looked like when the stone was stolen from us 160 years ago?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s the only place that looks like it\u2019s home? It\u2019s here \u2014 Elk Island \u2014 surrounded by buffalo,\u201d said Favel.<\/p>\n

\"AElk Island National Park is home to about 600 plains bison and 400 wood bison, according to the Parks Canada website. (Therese Kehler\/CBC)<\/p>\n

The nine-hole golf course in the tiny national park hasn\u2019t operated since the end of the 2022 season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Favel said the next step will be a building in which to house the stone. His organization will be independently fundraising for the project, but added that he is looking to different levels of government for support.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a little home now. That\u2019s important. We need a building, right? I\u2019m going to look to Ottawa for help there,\u201d Favel said.<\/p>\n

He also said he hopes the provincial government will be able to help with the operating costs of the planned site.<\/p>\n

At the announcement, Julie Dabrusin, the federal minister of environment, climate change and nature, said environmental assessments are being completed for the site, but there is no set timeline to move the stone yet.<\/p>\n

While no clear schedule was presented for when the site will be constructed, Favel said his organization is fully dedicated to returning the stone to nature.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t stop because we\u2019ve made this promise.\u2026 We all know that as First Nations people. We can\u2019t stop until that building [is] built.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 4 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":800388,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,66],"class_list":["post-800387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=800387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800387\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/800388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=800387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=800387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=800387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}