This Manitous do not exist in a hierarchy like European gods/goddesses, but are more akin to one part of the body interacting with another and the spirit of everything.
The name of the Canadian Province of Manitoba is etymologically related to the word "manitou", and likely meant something like "narrows of the Manitou" or "strait of the Manitou" in Cree or Ojibwe. Also Manitoulin Island means "spirit island".
In the first season X-Files episode 'Shapes,' Mulder and Scully find themselves investigating a case involving a creature identified as a manitou. The episode erroneously portrays the manitou in a destructive and negative manner, similar in nature to a wendigo, werewolf or skin-walker.
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