The Seneca Nation is calling on President Donald Trump to reverse his executive order that directs the renaming of Lake Ontario to "Lake America." Seneca Nation President J. Conrad Seneca stated that the order violates a more than 225-year-old treaty and demonstrates "blatant disrespect" for the Indigenous peoples who originally named the lake.
In a statement released Friday, Seneca urged for the rescission of Trump's order and the preservation of the name Lake Ontario, which he said reflects the Indigenous people of both the U.S. and Canada who inhabited the region long before the formation of these nations. "The President cannot assert ownership over our culture or erase it through irresponsible political action," Seneca said.
The executive order, signed this week, mandates the U.S. Interior Department to update the lake's name in the geographic naming service within 30 days. This action is part of an escalating trade dispute between the United States and Canada.
Seneca asserted that the renaming infringes upon the 1794 Treaty of Canandaigua, an agreement between President George Washington and the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, which promised enduring peace and friendship. The Seneca Nation is one of the six nations comprising the Haudenosaunee, also known as the Iroquois Confederacy.
The current name, Lake Ontario, is derived from the Huron Indigenous people's word "oniatarí:io," meaning "lake of shining waters." The Canadian province of Ontario, established in 1867, adopted its name from the lake. In the traditional Seneca language, the lake is known as “sga:nyodai:yoh,” translating to “beautiful lake."
Trump initially proposed the name change amid deteriorating trade talks, which led to the U.S. imposing new tariffs on Canadian goods. Canada retaliated with its own tariffs on American products, and Canadian leaders condemned the proposed renaming of the lake. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney rejected the move, highlighting the lake's Indigenous origins and its name's precedence over both the Canadian Confederation and the U.S. Declaration of Independence, noting that Trump cannot compel Canada to adopt the new name.