Seneca Nation president J. Conrad Seneca has urged President Trump to reverse an executive order renaming Lake Ontario “Lake America”, describing the move as unpresidential and disrespectful to Indigenous people. He argued that the lake’s existing name reflects Indigenous history and that changing it turns a culturally significant place into a political issue amid tensions between the US and Canada.

Seneca said the lake is called sga:nyodai:yoh, or “beautiful lake”, in the Seneca language and has long been used by Seneca and other Haudenosaunee peoples. He cited the 1794 Canandaigua Treaty and the US Constitution’s recognition of treaties, while calling on Native groups and elected representatives to oppose the change. Trump announced the order on Thursday and said he had directed the Interior Department to update the federal geographic-names system; Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney also criticised the decision.