U.S. President Donald Trump may have a new name for Lake Ontario, but Canadian stamp collectors have plenty of philatelic evidence suggesting the old one has served us just fine.
Trump signed an executive order Aug. 27 directing U.S. federal agencies to rename Lake Ontario “Lake America.” The order gives the U.S. secretary of the interior 30 days to take steps to change the name in the Geographic Names Information System, with federal government maps, documents and other references also directed to use the new name.
The order, of course, does not determine what Canadians call the lake. And Canada Post has been putting Lake Ontario — if not always its name — on Canadian stamps for decades.
Perhaps the most appropriate stamp for the current political climate came in 2018. As part of its second Weather Wonders issue, Canada Post featured a photograph by Garry M. Cass showing a dramatic waterspout swirling above Lake Ontario near Toronto. Canada Post described it as a “magnificent if not menacing-looking” waterspout, noting the swirling funnels can be just as dangerous as land-based twisters.
Considering all the hot air currently swirling around the name of Lake Ontario, collectors might be forgiven for thinking Canada Post was eight years ahead of the weather forecast.
The lake had already figured prominently in Canadian philately more than three decades ago. In 1987, Canada Post issued a 36-cent stamp as part of a four-stamp series devoted to historic Canadian shipwrecks. It commemorated the Hamilton and Scourge, two American gunships that sank during a storm off Port Dalhousie on Lake Ontario on Aug. 8, 1813.
Canada’s 1987 Historic Shipwrecks issue included this 36-cent stamp featuring the Hamilton and Scourge, two American gunships that sank during a violent storm on Lake Ontario in 1813. Their remarkably preserved wrecks remain on the lake bottom off Port Dalhousie, Ont.
Discovered in 1973 about 90 metres below the surface, the remarkably preserved wrecks are located approximately 11 kilometres north of Port Dalhousie, near St. Catharines, Ont. The site was designated a national historic site in 1976 because of the vessels’ importance as surviving examples of War of 1812 naval warfare.
Lake Ontario made another appearance in 2023 when Canada Post celebrated five vessels in its Canadian Ferries issue. One of the stamps features Trillium, the historic side-wheel paddle steamer that carries passengers between Toronto and the Toronto Islands across Lake Ontario. Launched in 1910, Trillium was retired in 1956 before returning to service in 1976 following an extensive restoration.
The historic Trillium crosses Lake Ontario on this 2023 Canadian Ferries stamp. Launched in 1910, the side-wheel paddle steamer has carried generations of passengers between Toronto and the Toronto Islands.
Together, the stamps offer three very different glimpses of the same lake: the final resting place of two vessels from the War of 1812, the waters travelled by generations of Toronto ferry passengers and the setting for one particularly impressive Canadian weather event.
Trump’s executive order may result in a new name appearing on U.S. federal maps and documents. North of the border, however, don’t expect Canada Post to start issuing stamps featuring “Lake America.”
And as for that 2018 waterspout?
It seems there is still plenty of hot air blowing across Lake Ontario.