Renaming Reality: Trump's Lake Ontario Gambit Exposes Deeper Fractures The news that Donald Trump has signed an executive order to rename Lake Ontario "Lake America" has been met with widespread derision from Canada and beyond.
The move is less about geography than politics, a crude attempt to assert American dominance over a body of water shared for centuries by the two countries.
The name "Ontario" comes from the Wendat word for "the lake is beautiful, the lake is big," a linguistic heritage predating European settlement that has been recognized by both nations since the 18th century.