A day after President Donald Trump signed an executive order renaming Lake Ontario "Lake America" amid a trade war with Canada, the leader of Seneca Nation of Indians asked him to reverse it. Calling his order "unpresidential," president J. Conrad Seneca on Friday wrote: "The President cannot assert ownership over our culture or erase it through irresponsible political action.
His order should be rescinded, and the name Lake Ontario should be left as it is, reflective of the Seneca people, other Haudenosaunee nations and all Indigenous people surrounding the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 explained that the lake derived its name from Indigenous roots. TRUMP TAUNTS CANADA ON RENAMING LAKE ONTARIO THE 'LAKE AMERICA' AMID RISING BORDER TRADE RIFT "In our traditional Seneca language, its name is sga:nyodai:yoh, meaning ‘beautiful lake,’" he wrote in a message shared in the nation’s newsletter. "Long before the United States existed, and before settlers brought the English language to our lands, our Seneca and Haudenosaunee ancestors traveled Lake Ontario and surrounding waterways for many reasons, including diplomacy among our nations.
Now, we are seeing the exact opposite of diplomacy." He added that to the people of Seneca Nation, Lake America is not a "political pawn" but rather land that Indigenous people have lived on for thousands of years. HILLARY CLINTON'S DIG AT TRUMP OVER LAKE ONTARIO NAME CHANGE SPARKS VIRAL BACKLASH: 'SHOOTING BLANKS' "The action that President Trump is taking is starkly un-presidential and demeaning to his office and his standing as the leader of the free world," Seneca argued. "His blatant disrespect toward the Seneca people, other Haudenosaunee nations, and all Indigenous people is unacceptable." He noted that first President George Washington signed a treaty with several nations, including the Seneca, in 1794 "promising to live in peace and friendship with one another." "The United States also promised our people the free use and enjoyment of our lands forever," Seneca said.
"President Trump’s aggression toward our culture with his Executive Order violates that peace, friendship and commitments of the Canandaigua treaty." "This is the latest in a long history of willful attempts to disregard the United States’ commitments to the Seneca and other Haudenosaunee nations," he continued. "President Trump needs to be reminded of those commitments." He added that Article 6 of the U.S. Constitution "clearly states that treaties are the ‘supreme Law of the Land,’ and need to always be honored as such." HOUSE DEM'S 'LAKE NATALIE' JAB AT TRUMP AIDE SETS SOCIAL MEDIA ABLAZE: 'STAY CLASSY' Seneca called on all Native groups and federal, state and local representatives — "regardless of political party" — to stand against the name change.
"We will always call Lake Ontario by the name derived from the language of our ancestors — the name that, like the strength and influence of the Seneca people, will live on forever, long after the intrusive political tirades of individual men," he said. "The Lake of America was something I've been thinking about for a long time, actually," he told reporters while signing the Executive Order in the Oval Office. "As you know, we took something called the Gulf of Mexico — we changed it — and now it's very routinely the Gulf of America," Trump said in the Oval Office." TRUMP TRADE CHIEF WARNS CANADA WALKED AWAY FROM 'THE BEST DEAL' TO TRIGGER 50% U.S.
TARIFFS The president said he had directed Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and the department to update the Geographic Names Information System to reflect the name change. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney condemned the name change on X, writing, "The name is more than 400 years old, predating both the Confederation of Canada and the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America. We know that America is changing.
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