Michigan Congresswoman Moves to Block Trump's Lake Ontario Renaming

By Maine News Now Staff

A Michigan congresswoman is pushing back against President Donald Trump's executive order to rename Lake Ontario "Lake America," announcing Thursday she will introduce legislation to preserve the historic name.

Representative Debbie Dingell of Michigan said she will bring forward a bill called the "Hands Off Our Great Lakes Act" on Monday. The proposed legislation would invalidate Trump's August 27 executive order and prevent any actions taken under it from taking effect.

"The Great Lakes are a shared treasure that generations of Americans and Canadians have worked together to protect," Dingell wrote in a post on social media. "That's why I'm introducing legislation to keep Lake Ontario as Lake Ontario and block President Trump's idiotic order."

Trump's executive order directed federal agencies to update the Geographic Names Information System to reflect the new name and instructed the Board on Geographic Names to ensure all federal government references—including those on agency maps, contracts, and official documents—would use the updated designation.

The change moved quickly through federal agencies. Dr. Ned Mamula, director of the U.S. Geological Survey, confirmed in a message posted to Truth Social that the agency officially updated its systems by 4:30 p.m. Thursday. According to Mamula, the new name now appears in all official USGS electronic documents, with printed materials expected to be updated over the coming days.

The renaming effort has drawn sharp criticism from Canada. Prime Minister Mark Carney responded Thursday with a detailed defense of the original name, noting its Indigenous origins.

"The name Lake Ontario comes from the Wendat word Ontari'io, which, appropriately, means 'the lake is beautiful, the lake is big,'" Carney wrote. "The name is more than 400 years old, predating both the Confederation of Canada and the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America."

Carney added that Canadians would continue using the original name regardless of the federal action. "We know that America is changing. Their trading relationships, their foreign policies, their national monuments, their hydronyms," he said. "Canadians also know that naming reality means calling it Lake Ontario—then, now and always."

The controversy emerges amid an ongoing trade dispute between the United States and Canada. News reports indicated the administration may be considering similar renamings for other significant bodies of water, including the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

Dingell's proposed legislation would need to pass both chambers of Congress and receive presidential approval to block the executive order—a path that faces significant political obstacles given current partisan divisions.