Seneca Nation Calls for Reversal of President Trump's 'Lake America' Renaming Order
The Seneca Nation in upstate New York is criticizing President Trump's executive order to rename Lake Ontario as 'Lake America.' Seneca Nation President J. Conrad Seneca has called for the order to be rescinded, stating it violates the 1794 Treaty of Canandaigua. This treaty, signed by President George Washington and the Haudenosaunee confederacy, promised perpetual peace and friendship. The Seneca Nation is one of the six nations of this confederacy. President Trump signed the order directing the Interior Department to update the lake's name in the U.S. geographic naming service within 30 days. The renaming is reportedly part of an escalating trade dispute with Canada. The original name, Lake Ontario, derives from the Huron Indigenous people's word 'oniatarí:io,' meaning 'lake of shining waters.' In the traditional Seneca language, the lake is known as 'sga:nyodai:yoh,' meaning 'beautiful lake.' 
