Fact File: Canada is not blocking ships that refuse to honour Lake Ontario name

Online posts claiming Canada blocked vessels from entering Lake Ontario through a canal on the St. Lawrence Seaway appeared online this week. The posts claimed a Fox News report said Canada would allow the vessels to pass through if they agreed to refer to the lake as Lake Ontario instead of Lake America. There is no evidence Fox News produced such a report, and the corporation that manages the seaway on the Canadian side said marine traffic is unaffected. 

THE CLAIM

U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order last week to rename Lake Ontario to “Lake America,” his latest jab at Canada amid an escalating trade war with the United States. 

With Lake Ontario now in the spotlight, attention has shifted toward one of the lake’s key shipping routes and its potential role in the conflict. 

“Dozens of ships bound for ‘Lake America’ are stuck at the entrance to the Welland Canal. Canada simply refuses to let them through,” claims an Aug. 29 Threads post with 23,000 likes. The post attributes its information to the U.S. media company Fox News. 

Similar posts appeared on the platform as well as on X and Facebook. They claimed that Canada would allow passage to U.S. vessels if their “documents” acknowledged Lake Ontario instead of Lake America. 

THE FACTS

The Welland Canal is located on the western half of the St. Lawrence Seaway, which connects the St. Lawrence River to the Great Lakes. 

The canal links Lake Ontario to Lake Erie and uses eight locks that can be filled with water or drained to transport vessels between different sea levels. 

The Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation administers the seaway on the American side as a federal agency within the U.S. Department of Transportation. 

In Canada, the federal government owns the Canadian portion but its management is overseen by the non-profit St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation. 

Serge Auclair, vice-president of commercial and external relations at the St. Lawrence Seaway’s Canadian management corporation, said vessels are travelling the canal as usual. 

“Seaway operations are continuing normally and have done so throughout the weekend,” Auclair said in an emailed statement Monday. 

A keyword search on the Fox News website, Google’s search index and the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine found no evidence the media organization reported on Canada blocking American ships at the canal. 

The earliest version of the claim appears to come from an X account that makes satirical posts in Russian and lists its occupation as “comedian.” 

The Canadian Press reached out the seaway’s American administrators but did not receive a response by publication. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 31, 2026. 

By Marissa Birnie | Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.