ḵ'els
Feature Type:Mount - Variation of Mountain: Mass of land prominently elevated above the surrounding terrain, bounded by steep slopes and rising to a summit and/or peaks. ["Mount" preceding the name usually indicates that the feature is named after a person.]
Status: Official
Name Authority: BC Geographical Names Office
Relative Location: At head of Queens Reach, lekw'emin (inlet), NE of Powell River (city), Lillooet Land District
Latitude-Longitude: 50°14'52"N, 123°59'00"W at the approximate centre of this feature.
Datum: WGS84
NTS Map: 92J/4
Origin Notes and History:

"Mount Victoria" adopted 6 May 1924 on BC Lands' map 2D, Powell River, as labelled on British Admiralty Chart 579, 1865 et seq. Official name changed to ḵ’els 21 June 2023 on 92J/4 as recommended by shíshálh Nation.

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

This peak is associated with a legend site and refers to the mountain near the head of lekw’emin (Jervis Inlet) (advice from shíshálh Nation Stewardship and Territorial Land Management Division, 2022).

Source: included with note

“One is that up at Jervis Inlet there’s a mountain called Anchor Mountain. And it's called Anchor Mountain because our forefathers called it ḵ’els in our dialect which means anchor. And on top of that mountain -- it's over 6,000 feet -- the snow line is about between 4,000 and 5,000 feet and where the snowline ends there’s no shrubbery and evergreens that grows above that line, nothing at all because there's snow on top of those peaks just about ten (10) months out of the year or maybe even more. But on top of Anchor Mountain there’s this Douglas fir tree roots and branches and all laying up there above the snow line. How did it get up there? Legends from our forefathers says that it got up there from the great big flood a long time ago.” - Gilbert Joe May 18, 1994
(Advice from shíshálh Nation Stewardship and Territorial Land Management Division, 2022).

Source: included with note

ḵ’els
• The ḵ’ is pronounced as a hard ‘k’ at the back of the throat with a short glottal stop
• e is pronounced as a short ‘u’ sound as in ‘luck’
• l and s are pronounced as in English
To hear recordings of place names and learn other she shashishalhem words and phrases, visit shíshálh Nation’s language webpage: https://shishalh.com/culture-language/sechelt-language/

ḵ’els is not capitalized.
(Advice from shíshálh Nation Stewardship and Territorial Land Management Division, 2022).

Source: included with note

Acknowledging with gratitude Raquel Joe (ch’elkwilwet), Museum Curator, tems swiya Museum, shíshálh Nation, and Steven Feschuk (xwash), Protector of Culture, shíshálh Nation, for providing the audio pronunciation.

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