"N*ggertoe Mountain" adopted 1 December 1955 on 82E/SW. Name changed to Mount Nkwala 29 April 1966 on 82 E/NW, as proposed by the Penticton Branch of the Okanagan Historical Society, January 1966.

Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office

"Hwistesmexe’qen, known more commonly as N’Kwala or Nicola, was a 19th-century Indigenous leader who exemplified fatherhood. Chief N’Kwla had 50 of so children of his own, and he was also responsible for the wellbeing of many others through his roles as Grand Chief of the Okanagan Peoples and Chief of the Nicola Valley Peoples. N’Kwala was born circa 1785 at either the head of Okanagan Lake or near Nicola Lake to Okanagan Chief Pelkamu’lox and an unknown Stuwi’x woman.

N’Kwala became Grand Chief of the Okanagan Peoples after his father was killed in 1822. He was later granted the title of Chief of the Nicola Peoples following the death of his uncle Kwali’la. Over the course of his life, it is believed that N’Kwala had up to 15 wives who came from different tribes across the Interior.

Among both his People, and the fur traders and gold miners who entered the Valley, N’Kwala developed a reputation for “sagacity, honesty, prudence and fair dealing, and was rather a peacemaker than a fighting man.” Of all of the era’s Southern Interior Chiefs, N’Kwala was said to have the most power and influence. N’Kwala passed away in the fall of 1859. He was succeeded by his nephew Tsilaxitsa. N’Kwala had raised his nephew since infancy, following the death of his mother during childbirth, and Tsilaxitsa followed many of his uncle’s philosophies during his own chieftaincy. Today, N’Kwala’s legacy lives on: hundreds of his descendants continue to live in B.C.’s Southern Interior and adjoining regions of the United States" (information from Vernon Museum, Grand Chief N'kwala by Gwyn Evans, 20 June 2021).

Source: included with note

In October 1965 the Canadian Permanent Committee on Geographical Names reached a unanimous decision that objectionable place names in Canada (such as "n*gger") should be replaced on maps. The chairman of the Canadian Confederation Centennial Committee of British Columbia received a proposal in November 1965 from the BC and Yukon Council of the Boy Scouts of Canada, to change the name to "Jamboree Mountain" in recognition of the Boy Scouts gathering to be held in British Columbia in 1966, at Penticton; endorsement received from Penticton & Summerland Chambers of Commerce. Not supported by the Okanagan Historical Society - no weight, dignity or lasting worth - and no recognizable association with British Columbia's or Canada's centenaries [1966 and 1967, respectively)] The Penticton Branch of the Okanagan Historical Society recommended the name "Nkwala Mountain" in January 1966, being the name of several important ancestral Okanagan chiefs, and also the title of an award-winning novel about a Salish boy who lived at the foot of Okanagan Lake (file K.1.55)

Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office, file K.1.55.

"Nkwala" is the title of a novel by Miss Edith Lambert Sharp of Penticton, about a Salish Indian boy growing from childhood to manhood. His tribe, the Spokane, migrated from a drought-stricken area to settle at the foot of Okanagan Lake with their related tribe, the Okanagan. The novel won the Little Brown of Canada Award, the Governor General's Medal and a Hans Christian Anderson Diploma of Merit from Luxembourg when it was published in 1958. Copy in Geographical Names Office, Victoria. See also Nicola Lake and Nicola River.

Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office