The Seneca Nation is calling on President Donald Trump to reverse his decision to rename Lake Ontario “Lake America,” arguing that the move disregards centuries of Indigenous history and the United States’ treaty obligations.
Trump signed an executive order Thursday directing the Interior Department to change the lake’s name in the U.S. Geographic Names Information System within 30 days, extending his second-term penchant for rebranding landmarks with the “America” name.
Seneca Nation President J. Conrad Seneca called the order “blatant disrespect” for Indigenous people and said Trump cannot erase their history through political action.
“Lake Ontario is not owned by the United States,” Seneca said. “The President cannot assert ownership over our culture or erase it through irresponsible political action.”
The name Ontario itself predates both the United States and Canada and has Indigenous origins. It is derived from an Iroquoian word commonly translated as “lake of shining waters.” The province of Ontario, established in 1867, was named after the lake — not the other way around.
The Seneca Nation also pointed to the 1794 Treaty of Canandaigua, signed during George Washington’s presidency between the United States and the Six Nations of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. The agreement established peace and recognized lands belonging to the Indigenous nations.
Trump’s order comes amid his escalating feud with Canada, including repeated suggestions that the country should become the 51st U.S. state. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has rejected the name change, noting the lake’s Indigenous history. The United States cannot require Canada to adopt the new name for the lake, which forms part of the international border.
Start your day with essential news from Salon.Sign up for our free morning newsletter, Crash Course.
While the Seneca Nation invoked a treaty dating back more than two centuries, Trump spent Saturday morning embracing a considerably less solemn interpretation of his new “Lake America.” The president shared an AI-generated video on Truth Social video captioned “Lake America protected by Donald Ducks.”
The video depicts a flock of Trump-haired, rifle-toting Canada geese — equipped with inexplicable human arms — marching beneath American flags. The geese eventually fire their weapons into the air as fireworks explode over the words “Lake America.”
Read more
about this topic
