In 2025 SD 42 Indigenous Education offered opportunities to schools to invest in projects of legacy. As a school community, we wanted to investigate and better understand the story of how our school got its name. The story of our school names is linked to a Mountain, a boat, and a great legend.
This webpage is to support the path to investigate finding appropriate ways to bring that story to Garibaldi Secondary School. Our school is almost 70 years old and has a rich tradition. However, the tradition has never included the story of the mountain and the culture behind it.
Garibaldi Secondary School is named after Garibaldi Provincial Park which was named after Giuseppe Garibaldi. Giuseppe Garibaldi is recognized as being a founding father to the countries of Italy, Uruguay and San Marino. In 1865 the British service ship HMS Plumper was selling the west coast of British Columbia completing a mapping survey. The First Mate, Lieutenant Mayne identified the mountain known as the Nch’kay̓ by the Squamish and Lil’wat Nations and gave it the colonial name Mount Garibaldi
To the Squamish and Lil’wat Nations, Nch’kay̓ is considered sacred as it is an important part of their history. In their oral history a story, at a time of conflict a great flood rose to cover their land. As the conflict continued the flood increased to the point where only Nch’kay̓ peaked over the water. The ancient people headed for Nch’kay̓ and latched their canoes to the mountain with a rope made from woven cedar bark in order to prevent being swept away. At that time the conflict settled as the ancients were close together. The water dissipated due to the harmony in the village and the canoes. As the water left the valley opened up releasing their homes in the Valley.
Below is a link to a graphic representation of the story as presented by a business community strongly linked to the Squamish – Lil’wat Nation.
Here is a graphic representation of the story as presented by a business community strongly linked to the Squamish – Lil’wat Nation. https://www.nchkay.com/great-flood-story/
In the global community. There is an increasing recognition of cultural connection to landscape. Most recently. `The upper Squamish inlet was recognized as UNESCO Site. UNESCO Heritage sites are worldwide special recognition for cultures, buildings, places of worship, and natural environments.
https://www.biv.com/news/environment/howe-sound-designated-unesco-biosphere-region-8265463
In 2023, the Squamish – Lil’wat Nations have made formal application to have a name, Nch’kay̓, returned to Mount Garibaldi. This is a governmental process.
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