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.
Seneca Nation President J. Conrad Seneca on Friday called for Trump's order to be rescinded and for the Lake Ontario name to remain as a reflection of the Indigenous people in the U.S. and Canada who lived in territory around and along the lake long before the creation of either nation.
“The President cannot assert ownership over our culture or erase it through irresponsible political action," he said in a statement.
Trump this week signed an order directing the Interior Department to update the lake’s name in the U.S. geographic naming service, part of his escalating trade war with Canada. The order showed the change is supposed to be made in 30 days.
Seneca said the renaming violated the 1794 Treaty of Canandaigua, which was signed by President George Washington and the Haudenosaunee confederacy promising perpetual peace and friendship. The Seneca are one of the six nations of the confederacy, also known as the Iroquois Confederacy.
The name Lake Ontario comes from the Huron Indigenous people’s word “oniatarí:io,” which means “lake of shining waters.” The Canadian province of Ontario, founded in 1867, took its name from the lake.
In the traditional Seneca language, the lake's name is “sga:nyodai:yoh," meaning “beautiful lake," Seneca said.
Trump floated the name change in recent days as the U.S. announced it was imposing new tariffs on Canadian goods after talks broke down between the countries. Canada responded with its own retaliatory tariffs on American goods, while the country's leaders slammed the idea of changing the lake's name.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney rejected the move, noting the lake’s Indigenous roots and that the name predates both the Canadian Confederation and the U.S. Declaration of Independence. Trump can't force Canada to follow along with the renaming.
Trump has argued that Canada has been ripping off the U.S. on trade and military issues and suggested Canada should be absorbed as the 51st state.
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