Whiteshell Petroforms

Where the Spirit Sits

Experience the Spirit of Whiteshell Petroforms

Whiteshell Petroforms

Guided tours and land-based learning of the stone formations from an Anishinaabe worldview in the Heart of Turtle Island: Manitoba, Canada.

Join us on a guided walk through the boreal forest as we visit a sacred stone site: rocks and boulders arranged by Indigenous peoples over millennia. Hear stories, histories, and teachings of local Indigenous Knowledge Keepers, who have welcomed visitors to this area for thousands of years. Connect to perspectives and energies bigger than ourselves.

Discover the Heart of Turtle Island in the Whiteshell Provincial Park

Located less than a 2-hour drive east of downtown Winnipeg you’ll find Whiteshell Provincial Park located on the Manitoba/Ontario border and geographically in the centre of Turtle Island (North America). The park is called Whiteshell after the sacred white cowrie shell used by Anishinaabe people in many ceremonies to this day.

Whiteshell Provincial Park is a beautifully preserved park space spanning more than 2,500 sq km and known for its numerous lakes, rivers, forests, and rugged, rocky terrain. Throughout the park you will find many movable rocks and boulders left behind after the most recent ice age, and Indigenous peoples made use of these boulders to create petroforms: placements of stones in the form of circles, turtles, serpents, water creatures, women formations, and many others as a tool to educate, tell stories, and record history. We continue to learn from these ancient knowledges today.

For tens of thousands of years, many Indigenous nations lived in, crossed through and travelled throughout the areas we now call Manitoba and Canada. Today, Whiteshell Provincial Park is well-known as cottage country for thousands of visitors, campers, and hikers, but Indigenous peoples from many nations have been living in this region for tens of thousands of years. While the petroform site has been named the Bannock Point Petroforms, many still acknowledge the site as its original name in Anishinaabemowin (the Ojibwe language) as Manitouabee, translated as “Where the Spirit Sits.”

Map to Petroform Site in Whiteshell Provincial Park

About the Stone Formations

These stones are the original instructions of how to live harmoniously on Earth. Tours are offered from an authentic Indigenous perspective of the Petroforms in Whiteshell Provincial Park: Manitoba, Canada. Discover the ancient past and ancestral spirit of the Whiteshell Petroforms. We welcome educators, schools, universities, centres, organizations, families and interested people.

Petroform Tours

Whiteshell History

Matrilineal Societies & Women Teachings

Indigenous Moon Knowledge

Explore this ancient sacred site known to the Anishinaabe people as ‘Manitouabee,’ and learn why the stones are placed in various formations. Learn about the stories of these formations, their meaning, and understand why the people say they are the original instructions of how to live on Mother Earth.

Learn about the ancient past of the Anishinaabe people by visiting Whitemouth Falls Provincial Park, located in the town of Seven Sisters an hour east of Winnipeg, Manitoba. A place where two rivers meet and where seven cascading falls once existed under the Fisher Star Constellation, known as the Big Dipper. Learn about the ancient Indigenous ancestors that once lived in this area after the Ice Age.

Schedule a workshop to learn about Indigenous Matrilineal societies that once thrived pre-colonization on Turtle Island, the continent known today as the Americas. Learn about how these Matrilineal societies of Mother Earth and Grandmother Moon. In this present day of colonization, Indigenous women are restoring Matrilineal ways by rematriation of ancestral lands and waters.

Schedule a workshop to learn about the Indigenous thirdteen moons and their meaning, how the people live according to the Moon phases of each four seasons, and the gifts each Moon brings to the land and people. Learn about the Indigenous people’s Earth-based science and spiritual meaning of the Moon phases, and how the Moon affects our health and well-being. Understanding the significant relationship Grandmother Moon with Women and water.

What People Say About Whiteshell Petroforms Tours

“We visited the Whiteshell Petroforms as the leadership team from our school division, with Diane as our guide. Our group consisted of Superintendents, Principals and Vice-principals. For many of our members, it was their first visit to the site, even though they have lived in Manitoba for many years. The tour provided a historical account of the area through the lens of the Indigenous peoples of Canada. As educators, we found it fascinating that the Petroforms were an educational site for Indigenous people, offering a wide range of teaching and learning opportunities. The experience was well received by our leadership team and they valued the time learning from Diane. We would highly recommend this tour to every school division as we take steps towards Reconciliation in Canada"

“The experience was enriching and very informative. Diane shared knowledge and stories that captivated us and left us with so much to think about. I would highly recommend this experience for all. It was an excellent way to get a glimpse of the profound history of the Anishinaabe Peoples and the beauty that can be found in this sacred place.”

“It was a hot summer day in The Whiteshell. Diane and her daughter welcomed us on a tour of the Bannock Point Petroforms. Diane's perspective and depth of knowledge about the petroforms were enlightening. I would highly recommend this tour to anyone who would like to delve deeper into learning about the Anishinaabe culture.”

"This tour is something everyone who is passing through Whiteshell Provincial Park should experience. I visited the Bannock Point Petroforms—or ‘Manitouabee’—with the expectation of seeing a unique and meaningful monument to Indigenous history. The reality was so much more profound than that, thanks to Ms. Maytwayashing. Her tour was a perfect blend of cultural and archeological insight, cultural storytelling and spiritual generosity that made my visit to the Petroforms feel personal, emotional and truly one of a kind. From the tobacco offering at the edge of the forest and Ms. Maytwayashing's retelling of the 8,000-year-old history to her own experiences of overnight fasting at the site and the repatriation of Indigenous remains, her tour left me feeling like I, a lifelong Canadian, still had so much to still discover and learn about the real history of Turtle Island. The way Ms. Maytwayashing shared her knowledge of and love for the Petroforms with me throughout that day made the experience of walking through such an ancient, meaningful space felt deep and everlasting. It stays with me even today, years later, and I'm not likely to forget that feeling anytime soon. In fact, I hope I can visit again!”

“Diane Maytwayashing is a beautiful Knowledge Keeper who has been a teacher to many staff and participants at the North End Women’s Centre (NEWC) over the last many years. The Whiteshell Petroforms are beautiful, powerful and a spiritual place where the Anishinaabe creation story begins, as well as the matriarchal society that once existed, on-site in ceremonies. Having guided tours by a land-based Knowledge Keeper is the appropriate way to honour this sacred space. Diane walked beside us sharing stories and teachings in a way that can only be experienced on the land. She also brought her woman’s pipe and drum and offered us a ceremony where staff and participants were given their spirit names, colours, and clans. NEWC will continue to book with Diane to allow women to reconnect with Culture and heal on the land. Thank you, Diane, for loving us beautifully.”