Blue Rodeo fans chant 'Lake Ontario' amid U.S. rename controversy
Blue Rodeo encouraged the audience at the RBC Amphitheatre in Toronto to sing “Lake Ontario,” pushing back against President Donald Trump’s executive order to rename the lake “Lake America,” according to the band’s statement. The chant echoed broader Canadian resistance to the U. S. naming proposal. President Trump issued the order earlier this month, prompting New York Governor Kathy Hochul to affirm that the state will continue to use the name Lake Ontario, rejecting the change, as reported by Fox News.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton later faced social-media criticism for opposing the order, also noted by Fox News. Seneca Nation President J. Conrad Seneca called for the order’s rescission, citing the 1794 Treaty of Canandaigua and Indigenous heritage, according to AP News. In response, Ontario Premier Doug Ford installed a large billboard along the Hamilton shoreline reading “Lake Ontario. Now and Always,” reaffirming the historic name.
