At IRON MAIDEN’s concert on August 29 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, lead singer Bruce Dickinson made a clear reference to Lake Ontario by its original name, despite U. S. president Donald Trump having signed an executive order that aimed to change it to Lake America.
In a brief video shared by Sirius XM Canada, Bruce spoke to the crowd at Scotiabank Arena during the first show of MAIDEN’s 2026 North American leg of their “Run For Your Lives” tour. He said: “Hello, Canada. Oh my God. It’s been traumatic. We got here. We crossed the Lake Of Ontario.”
This week, Canadian prime minister Mark Carney stated that Lake Ontario will keep its name even with Trump’s executive order affecting it.
“The name is more than 400 years old, pre-dating both the Confederation Of Canada and the Declaration Of Independence of the United States of America,” Carney explained on Thursday. “We know that America is changing. Their trading relationships, their foreign policies, their national monuments, their hydronyms. Canadians also know that naming reality means calling it Lake Ontario – then, now and always,” he added.
Trump’s executive order relates only to U. S. federal references of the lake and does not dictate how Canada or others refer to this body of water.
The executive order claimed the new title honors “the American history of the Great Lakes.”
This action was part of a growing trade dispute between the U. S. and Canada that has led both nations to impose tariffs on billions in goods exchanged between them.
U. S. states are not required to follow this order and can continue using “Lake Ontario” on maps, road signs, and tourist materials.
Rochester’s city council in New York unanimously passed a resolution affirming they will keep using Lake Ontario as its name.
New York governor Kathy Hochul stated her state wouldn’t be referring to it as Lake America. In a video she posted on her You Tube channel, Hochul remarked that renaming the lake was “deflecting from the real needs of Americans.”
Even though Canada and the U. S have historically been close allies, their relationship deteriorated quickly under Trump’s administration when Washington announced hefty tariffs on Canadian goods worth billions after trade discussions fell apart. Carney pledged to respond with matching tariffs “dollar for dollar” and revealed similar up to 50% tariffs on around $20 billion worth of U. S imports earlier this week.
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