Adopted in the 16th Report of the Geographic Board of Canada, 31 March 1919, as labelled on BC-Alberta boundary sheet 9, surveyed in 1916, published in 1917. Rescinded 29 June 2022 on 82J/11 as per multiple recommendations received from residents of Alberta and B.C. and supported by Regional District of East Kootenay, Columbia Valley Search and Rescue, B'Nai Brith of Canada League for Human Rights, Avalanche Canada, Association of Canadian Mountain Guides, and BC Mountaineering Club.

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

"Henri Phillippe Pétain (1856-1951), French soldier and statesman, born in Cauchy-à-la-Tour, France. During WW I he became a national hero for his defence of Verdun (1916), and was made commander-in-chief (1917) and marshal of France (1918). When France collapsed in 1940, he negotiated the armistice with Germany and Italy, and became chief-of-state, establishing his government at Vichy. His aim to unite France under the slogan "Work, Family and Country", and keep it out of the war, involved active collaboration with Germany. After the liberation he was tried in the French courts, his death sentence for treason being commuted to life imprisonment on the Ile d'Yeu, where he died. His role remains controversial, and some still regard him as a patriot."

Source: Cambridge Biographical Encylopedia, 2nd edition, Cambridge University Press, 1998.

Mount Pétain was established as an official name during the 1916 interprovincial boundary survey to commemorate French general Henri Phillipe Pétain, who was recognized as a hero of the First World War for his role in the defence of Verdun. The creek and the glacier were subsequently named because of their association to the mountain. During the Second World War Pétain headed the Vichy Government, an ally of Nazi Germany that created many antisemitic and other racially-based policies. In 1945, Pétain was convicted of treason and sentenced to death, but due to his age and his earlier war contributions his sentence was reduced to life in prison.

Source: BC place name cards & correspondence, and/or research by BC Chief Geographer & Geographical Names Office staff.

Named by interprovincial boundary surveyors, "After General H. P. Pétain, France, the man who saved Verdun."

Source: 16th Report of the Geographic Board of Canada (supplement to the Annual Report of the Dept of the Interior, 1919, Ottawa)