Border Towns Fear Lasting Damage from Lake Ontario Naming Fight
Seneca and Wyandotte leaders say the order ignores a 1794 treaty and could erase a tribal name that predates both countries.
- On Friday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing the Interior Department to rename Lake Ontario to "Lake America," linking the decision to escalating trade tensions with Canada.
- Trump has repeatedly criticized Canadian policies, including suggesting the country should be absorbed as the 51st state, while the administration claims the renaming honors American greatness amid broader trade friction.
- Citing a violation of the 1794 Treaty of Canandaigua, Seneca Nation President J. Conrad Seneca and Wyandotte Nation Chief Billy Friend denounced the move as erasing Indigenous history without tribal consultation.
- Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney rejected the renaming, highlighting the lake's Indigenous roots, while Canada responded to U.S. trade actions by implementing retaliatory tariffs on American goods.
- With the order setting a 30 days window for implementation, Chief Friend plans to write to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum seeking a reversal of the change to preserve Indigenous heritage.
5 Articles
5 Articles
Trump’s Lake America order hits a nerve in red-leaning towns along its shore
After President Donald Trump moved to rename Lake Ontario to Lake America last week, mayors on both sides of the political aisle are rejecting the new name ahead of the midterms.
In the border towns of upstate New York, fear grows that Canada-U.S. relations will never be the same
As U.S. President Donald Trump fights with Canada on tariffs and his decision to rename Lake Ontario, Americans along the border in upstate New York fear the heightened fight could spell the end of close Canadian ties, to the detriment of their communities.
Seneca Nation calls for reversal of Trump's ‘Lake America’ executive order
The leader of the Seneca Nation in upstate New York is criticizing President Donald Trump’s decision to rename Lake Ontario as “Lake America,” saying it violates a more than 225-year-old treaty and shows a “blatant disrespect” for the Indigenous people who gave it its name in the first place.
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