AFN, NCAI say Lake Ontario name will not change

The Assembly of First Nations and the National Congress of American Indians said Oct. 8 that Lake Ontario’s name is rooted in Indigenous languages and histories and cannot be changed by a U.S. executive order.

In a joint release, AFN National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak and NCAI President Mark Macarro responded to the order U.S. President Donald Trump signed on Aug. 27 directing the Interior Department to rename the lake “Lake America” in the U.S. geographic naming system.

“Lake Ontario is and always will be Lake Ontario,” Woodhouse Nepinak said in the release. She said the name is tied to First Peoples’ languages and histories, and that the lake has long been important for travel, food and spirituality. “We predate the border and stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters to the south,” she said.

Macarro said the histories of First Peoples “cannot be rewritten by an Executive Order.” He said the lake connects peoples across a border imposed on their homelands. “Our shared history is older than the border,” he said.

The two organizations said the order has no legal effect on international borders or on place names outside the United States. They also pointed to their March 24 renewal of the Declaration of Kinship and Cooperation, which commits them to work together on shared issues that cross the border.

The order gives U.S. agencies 30 days to update their records, PBS NewsHour reported. Trump said the change was effective immediately, but he cannot compel Canada to adopt the name.

Prime Minister Mark Carney rejected the move, pointing to the lake’s Indigenous roots and noting that the name predates both Confederation and the U.S. Declaration of Independence. He wrote that Canadians call it “Lake Ontario, then, now and always,” according to PBS. Ontario Premier Doug Ford dismissed the idea as “a lot of rhetoric.”

The release did not cite a position from the federal government beyond those public comments.

The statement comes as First Nations leaders prepare to take part in an Oct. 26 meeting with Carney and the premiers, which Canada News Media reported earlier this month. The AFN has also been pressing Ottawa on other priorities this fall, including a draft proposal for a First Nations-controlled wealth fund and the First Nations Clean Water Act, now before a House committee.

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Via the Assembly of First Nations: joint release with the NCAI. Order and reaction: PBS NewsHour.