Sky-watching domes connect Métis Crossing visitors with Indigenous knowledge
Destination near Smoky Lake, Alta., opens 8 stargazing suites, with more in works
Knowledge-holder Lilyrose Meyers calls the eight new sky-watching domes at Métis Crossing the ultimate experience in land-based learning.
Métis Crossing is a year-round cultural interpretive destination on 200 hectares of land, made up of five river lot titles dating back to the 1800s. It's 120 kilometres northeast of Edmonton, a few minutes' drive south of the town of Smoky Lake.
Each hard-shell insulated dome is equipped with a bathroom, a kitchenette and a king-size bed.
But there are no TVs. Instead, Meyers points to the transparent ceilings that allow visitors to comfortably watch the show in the skies above.
WATCH | Check out the new sky-watching domes near Smoky Lake:
"Part of the roof is clear ... so you can see the stars at night," Meyers says. "You're nice and warm. It's fully heated; even the floor is heated."
Meyers gives interpretive talks about the night sky. She tells visitors that for generations, Métis people have used the stars to time hunts, harvest plants and berries and track changes in the weather.
"We are seasonal people," she says. "We look to the heavens for that. We don't study the stars like astronomers do."
Meyers says the rural location with little light pollution makes the experience a great fit.
Peter Severn, director of facilities at Métis Crossing, says half of the domes face north, to catch the northern lights. The others face south to view a variety of constellations.
There's a trail system from the cultural gathering centre and lodge to the domes, "so we have the option of walking over, we have the option of skiing in the winter, or the option of the golf cart," says Severn.
The domes took about a year to build and included open cut excavation for the mechanical, power, communication lines in a major construction project.
"The dome areas, the indoor garden, the potable water treatment plant and all the infrastructure was in the neighbourhood of $6.2 million," says Severn.
CEO Juanita Marios says the project is the latest move by Métis Crossing to become a signature four-season destination on Alberta's landscape.
The new water treatment plant will be up and running this fall.
"We collect all of that wastewater, we redistribute it over the land base and it becomes fertilizer for our hay fields, which we then harvest to feed our buffalo, which we then harvest to feed our people," says Marios.
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Dome stays range from $400 a night for the two-person suites to closer to $500 for the family suite that can accommodate six.
Marios says a stay is "an investment into Métis Crossing, the Métis people and into yourself as you become a more knowledgeable Canadian."
The goal is to build 10 more domes to the site.
They're just the latest additions on a site owned by the Métis Nation of Alberta that saw a $10-million, 40-room lodge open last year, and a $8.9-million cultural gathering centre open in 2021.
"Right now we have 25,000 visitors coming to Métis Crossing on an annual basis and we hope to have that up to 80,000 people a year, in the next 10 years," says Marios.
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