Blackfoot heritage showcased at new Waterton Lakes National Park visitor centre

Waterton Lakes National Park had the official grand opening of its new visitor centre on Wednesday. The special event was hosted by Parks Canada along with the Kainai and Piikani Nations. The original interpretive centre burned down during the Kenow Wildfires back in 2017.

While the new centre opened to the public in February, this was more of a ceremonial opening honouring the collaborative efforts of bringing the 17.3 million dollar project to completion. The visitor centre is open year-round featuring modern exhibits, interpretive programming and visitor information services.

“We actually involved the Piikani and the Kainai communities to help us to incorporate a lot of their stories into the centre. So you’ll Blackfoot language and stories throughout the centre and an example perhaps the 13 moons exhibit that’s just off the left here. It’s an opportunity for us to indicate to our visitors the rich cultural heritage as well as natural heritage that’s protected here in Waterton Lakes National Park,” said Locke Marshall, Superintendent for the Waterton Lakes Field Unit.