Looking out over Lake Ontario, it is easy to forget just how close we are to the American border.
It takes no more than a forty-minute drive to reach the Thousand Islands Bridge to enter the United States. Another hour and a half would lead to Syracuse, a college town very comparable to Kingston. In 2018, Queen’s signed the Kingston-Syracuse Pathway with multiple entities in Syracuse, an agreement that encourages economic development both here in Ontario and throughout the state of New York. These sorts of agreements are common throughout both countries and are largely beneficial for all parties.
This all begs the question: why would Donald Trump go to the effort of damaging this productive relationship?
Renaming Lake Ontario is different from calling our prime minister a governor or referring to us as the 51st state. Trump’s usual “trolls” of posting American flags over our sovereign territory on social media are harmless and should be ignored. A well-known tactic of this American administration is to dominate the news headlines, and attention to their threats often helps their cause. This time, the threat has materialised.
Many Canadians are under the impression that after Trump’s term, our relationship with the United States will improve dramatically. An end to the tariffs, threats, and all other unpleasantness. A new administration would surely treat Canada better, ending the trade war and repairing the relationship between two allies.
It may be wiser to be a little more pessimistic.
Already, American users on major platforms including Google and Apple Maps see Lake America instead of Lake Ontario. The Gulf of America, once the Gulf of Mexico, is the same and has long disappeared from the news cycle. It is a very real possibility that a new administration would not bother undoing Trump’s new name.
As Canadians, we should be furious. The change of Lake Ontario, a name with significance for both countries, is meant to be a personal insult and should be taken as such.
Indigenous groups on both sides of the border have occupied areas along the lake for centuries, long before the founding of both our nations. The name “Ontario” comes from the Huron-Wyandot word “Ontarí:io”, meaning “beautiful lake” among other translations.
This is a name that has survived the founding of two countries and the centuries of history they share. By changing its name, Trump has proven to Canadians that our shared history can not only be ignored but changed to fit his narrative.
Trump renamed another significant North American feature, Mount Denali (North America’s highest peak, located in Alaska) to Mount McKinley in January of 2025. “Denali” is a name attributed to local Indigenous groups and was recognised by the Obama administration in 2015, and it is not difficult to draw parallels between Mount Denali and Lake Ontario.
Much like Canada, many in Alaska continue to refer to the mountain by its original name. Yet, despite local pushback, the new name appears on most major platforms including the U.S. government databases.
Canada cannot allow Lake Ontario to become Mount McKinley or the Gulf of America. We cannot afford for Trump’s petty insult to be forgotten in the ever-quickening news cycle, replaced by some new antic. We must remember, day in and day out, that centuries of our shared history are actively being erased.
Forty minutes away, Americans using Google Maps do not see the same name that we do. Anything less than outrage at the slight of Lake America is not only a disservice to us, but to our friends and allies across the border.
We are faced with a choice: ignore Trump and move on to other things or choose to take this personally and do something about it. That choice can be as simple as reading labels in the grocery store, or as complex as rethinking travel destinations. No matter what, Canada must both recognise the significance of these events and remember them.
No matter any other threats thrown our way, or even the state of the next administration, Canadians will, and should, remember this for a very long time.
James Cairns is a fifth-year Economics student.
Tags
Canadian politics, international relations, Lake Ontario, Trump administration
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Donna
So much lost. We cannot change what our American cousins have erased with the stroke of a pen. Move on. History is not valued in this bilateral relationship.