Jane Smith, the former CEO of a Michigan credit union has lost her job after what appeared to be an image of her and her family wearing “Lake America” sweatshirts went viral in Canada. “Lake America” is Donald Trump’s new name for Lake Ontario, and has been a hugely emotional issue in the ongoing trade war between the United States and Canada.
Family First Credit Union revealed to employees last week that Smith was out of the company “effective immediately” and, in a separate statement, (via IB Times) said it “unequivocally disapproves and rejects the content” of the image, and dubbed the post “unacceptable.”
They also apologized to their customers for “the concern, disappointment and pain” the image caused, while conceding that their members “may hold different perspectives about this decision.”
“Like our sweatshirts? Not sure Canada will.”
Smith gave her own account of what happened in an interview to ABC12, saying that the offending photo was originally completely innocent. Then, she says, they began casually discussing Trump’s “Lake America” comments and decided it’d be amusing to use ChatGPT to put the whole group in the sweatshirts. The image was duly created and posted to her private Facebook with the caption, “Like our sweatshirts? Not sure Canada will. Lol lol.”
Smith’s sister Lisa, also on the trip, then screenshotted the image and reposted it publicly. As Smith said: My sister took a screenshot, she made her own comment and she posted it. We were in Halifax at the time. We never had actual sweatshirts. We never wore sweatshirts.”
The photograph then went viral across multiple social media platforms, shared by indignant Canadians who only saw an American mocking them. Smith was soon identified and doxxed, and promptly began receiving death threats. She cut her trip short and returned to Michigan, where she made a statement to ABC12 and apologized, saying the image was “insensitive, distasteful, and in poor judgment” and insisted, “We weren’t trying to make a political statement.”
She added that she understood why Canadians were so upset: “I understand if I was someone in Halifax and I thought a poor group of people walked in wearing those sweatshirts, it is highly offensive and I would understand why they would be so angry” and said, “I made a mistake. I own that mistake, and I am committed to learning from it.”
As for “Lake America”? Well, Executive Order 14422 orders the name to appear on maps, though it has faced intense opposition on both sides of the border. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said it’s Lake Ontario “then, now and always“, and House democrats Tim Kennedy, Joe Morelle, and Debbie Dingell introduced the Hands Off Our Great Lakes Act, intended to bar the renaming of any Great Lake.
Published: Sep 28, 2026 09:42 am