Dingell plans to introduce bill to retain Lake Ontario's historic name

Michigan Rep. Debbie Dingell plans to introduce federal legislation next week to require that the historic name of Lake Ontario be retained in the United States, striking a potential blow to President Trump's efforts this week to rename it "Lake America." 

Dingell's office confirmed her plans to CBS News Detroit on Friday, expanding upon the opposition that she has voiced publicly on social media since Mr. Trump first suggested renaming one of the Great Lakes to Lake America. 

Dingell is a Democrat from the Ann Arbor area. 

Mr. Trump issued an executive order on Thursday, following up on the suggestion he posted on social media earlier in the week, calling for the Department of the Interior to update all references within the federal government to that lake to "Lake America." This step comes amid a tense time in U.S.-Canada relations, including tariff disputes, and the lake is along the international border of both countries along the U.S. state of New York and the Canadian province of Ontario.

Lake Ontario has been known by that name for centuries, with the name from the Iroquoian word "oniatarí:io," and means "lake of shining waters," according to the Center for Great Lakes Literacy. The name predates the founding of both the governments of Canada and the United States. 

The federal executive order specifically applies to U.S. federal government references, maps and communications. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Canadians will refer to it as Lake Ontario, "then, now and always." 

"The Great Lakes are a shared treasure that generations of Americans and Canadians have worked together to protect. Donald Trump can sign all the executive orders he wants, but it will always be Lake Ontario," Dingell said, stating her intentions to "block President Trump's idiotic order." 

The above video originally aired on August 27, 2026.