Ontario Premier responds to U.S. executive order renaming Lake Ontario
What happened
U.S. President Donald Trump issued an executive order to rename Lake Ontario as "Lake America."
Ontario Premier Doug Ford responded to the order by unveiling a billboard near Grimsby, Ontario, that declares "Lake Ontario. Now and Always."
The Seneca Nation has called for the reversal of the name change, and Google Maps has added the name "Lake America" to its platform.
Why it matters
Premier Ford compared the rename to an "SNL" skit and stated that the body of water has been known as Lake Ontario for hundreds of years, while the order occurs during an ongoing trade war between Canada and the United States.
Context
Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes, with its center serving as the international border between Canada and the United States.
The Treaty of Canandaigua was signed in 1794 between the United States and the Six Nations of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy.
Sources 6 sources
This briefing cites 4 publishers across 4 detected independent reporting streams.
- Associated Press Ontario premier answers Trump’s ‘Lake America’ with giant ‘Lake Ontario’ sign - AP News
- Axios Google Maps adds 'Lake America' as Ford compares change to 'SNL' skit - Axios
- Cbs News Ontario premier slams Trump's executive order to rename Lake Ontario as Seneca Nation calls for reversal - CBS News
- The Daily Gazette Our waterways carry history. No executive order can rewrite it.
- Wikipedia Lake Ontario Background reference · Wikipedia text used under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Wikipedia Treaty of Canandaigua Background reference · Wikipedia text used under CC BY-SA 4.0.