My Promise as Lake Ontario Waterkeeper

With everything going on, this seems like the perfect time for a reintroduction. My name is Gregary Ford, and I am the Lake Ontario Waterkeeper. 

As many of you know, yesterday Donald Trump signed an executive order to have Lake Ontario renamed Lake America. As the discourse around this continues, I wanted to highlight something that’s been missing from the discussion so far, and that’s the importance of language. 

Lake Ontario is a waterbody and a watershed that’s shared by millions of people across two countries, multiple states, and provinces and, of course, dozens of sovereign First Nations and original Peoples who have called these lands and waters home since time immemorial. 

The word Ontario comes from the Iroquoian language family that is often translated as:

• Shining waters

• Beautiful water

• Great lake

That’s how people know it. As home. 

Ontario is not just the name of a province. It carries a history, a connection to these waters, and a promise to care for them. That promise is at the heart of what it means to be a Waterkeeper.

To be a Waterkeeper means to be a full-time public advocate and protector for a given waterbody. Someone whose job it is to speak up for the lake, protect its health, and make sure the people who depend on it have a voice. As Lake Ontario Waterkeeper, it’s my job to do exactly that. 

Protecting Lake Ontario is not just about protecting a name. It’s about protecting a body of water that connects us all. It’s about the communities who swim in it, drink from it, and fish in it. It’s about the generations who came before us that call it home and the generations that will come after us and call it home.

So, I wanted to use this opportunity to make a promise to you all. I pledge allegiance to the lake that is and always will be known as Lake Ontario. The very definition of shining, beautiful waters. Now and forever.

With gratitude,

Gregary Ford