Ontario’s Doug Ford unveils a giant “Lake Ontario — Now and Always” sign on the lakeshore, while the Seneca Nation demands the U.S. president rescind an order it says violates a 225-year-old treaty.
Ontario’s head of government on Saturday erected a sign by Lake Ontario that reads “Lake Ontario — Now and Always” and criticized President Donald Trump after he signed an executive order to rename the body of water that connects the Canadian province and the state of New York.
“I’m here on the shores of beautiful Lake Ontario, a crown jewel of our province and our country,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford said in a short video message posted on social media .
“You may have heard that President Trump is trying to rename this lake, all because he doesn’t like Ontario and Canada standing up for ourselves,” he said. “But let’s be serious. Long before President Trump, this lake was called Lake Ontario, and long after President Trump is gone, it will still be called Lake Ontario.”
Ford added that the province put up the huge blue sign to remind Mr. Trump and everyone that “it’s Lake Ontario now and forever.”
A sign in two languages
The new sign, which also says in French “Lac Ontario — Aujourd’hui et pour toujours,” is located at Fifty Point Conservation Area, a park in Hamilton, Ontario. Ford recorded the video along the lake’s shore near Hamilton, where he revealed the baby-blue, billboard-sized sign — a pointed response to the U.S. president’s order, which he said was issued “in case President Trump — or anyone else — forgets” .
The executive order
Amid an ongoing trade war between Canada and the United States, Mr. Trump last week sought to rename Lake Ontario “Lake America” by executive order. He also said the U.S. doesn’t expect to be “doing much business with Ontario any longer.” The order directs the Interior Department to update the lake’s name in the U.S. geographic naming service, with the change to be made within 30 days — though the president cannot compel Canada, foreign governments or international organizations to recognize it .
The name Ontario came from the Iroquoian word “oniatarí:io,” and means “lake of shining waters,” according to the Center for Great Lakes Literacy.
The Seneca Nation speaks out
The leader of the Seneca Nation, one of the Iroquoian-speaking nations in the region, on Friday also criticized Mr. Trump’s decision to rename Lake Ontario and called for the executive order to be rescinded.
Seneca Nation President J. Conrad Seneca said the order violates a more than 225-year-old treaty — the 1794 Treaty of Canandaigua — and shows a “blatant disrespect” for the Indigenous people who gave the lake its name in the first place. He said the Lake Ontario name should 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. “His order should be rescinded, and the name Lake Ontario should be left as it is, reflective of the Seneca people, other Haudenosaunee nations and all Indigenous people surrounding the lake.”
Seneca called the move “starkly un-presidential and demeaning to his office,” and urged all Native Nations to “stand united to vocally and forcefully reject this change.”
A trade war in the background
The naming dispute is the latest flashpoint in a spiralling trade war between the two neighbours. Following failed trade talks, the U.S. began imposing 50% tariffs on hundreds of Canadian goods. Mr. Trump also announced that the U.S. will impose a 50% tariff on all Canadian automotive and steel imports beginning in January, while claiming that “Canada has been ripping off the United States of America for years.”
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney then announced new retaliatory tariffs against the U.S., saying Canada would impose duties of up to 50% on about $20 billion of U.S. imports — matching Washington’s levies “dollar for dollar” .
A war of words
In recent days, Ford has openly pushed back against Mr. Trump’s treatment of Canada.
“He’s treating us like we’re Communist China here,” Ford told CBS News chief Washington correspondent Major Garrett last week. “We’re the closest friends and allies that the U.S. has anywhere in the entire world, and I want to keep it that way.”
Ford and Mr. Trump have traded harsh words as the trade war escalates. The president called Ford “unimpressive” and a “flunky” of Carney, who belongs to a different political party but has drawn support from the Ontario premier.
Ford, for his part, has called the U.S. president a “dictator” and said: “I have a lot of real estate on my a**, so he has a lot of room to kiss my a**.”
References
- CBS News, “Ontario premier slams Trump’s executive order to rename Lake Ontario,” 29 August 2026.
- Al Jazeera, “Ontario’s Doug Ford prods Trump with sign rejecting ‘Lake America’ name,” 29 August 2026.
- Associated Press, “Seneca Nation criticizes Trump’s ‘Lake America’ executive order,” 28 August 2026.