“Lake America” labels have been integrated into Google Maps, and President Donald Trump of the United States is urging Apple to do the same with the mapping app pre-installed on every iPhone.
Experts in the technology industry point out a concerning reality for many Canadian consumers and businesses: they are essentially tied to these platforms owned by the U.S., with limited or no feasible non-American alternatives available.
Anne Pasek, who holds the Canada Research Chair in Media, Culture, and the Environment at Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario, remarked, “Canadians are significantly impacted by American tech monopolies, a fact that often goes unnoticed until controversies arise.”
She added, “Our digital presence, along with many aspects of our lives connected to it, falls under the jurisdiction of American corporations and, therefore, American laws.”
Certain Canadian websites, including those of the federal government, exhibited maps where Lake Ontario was relabeled as Lake America on August 30, following Google Maps’ announcement in alignment with a directive from U.S. President Donald Trump. Although Google stated that the change was intended for U.S. users only, some Canadian websites utilizing third-party protocols linked to Google’s U.S. API were inadvertently affected by the alteration.
A number of Canadian websites, including those of federal government entities and major banks in the country, have recently shown maps with Lake Ontario renamed as Lake America.
These adjustments were made following an executive order issued by Trump instructing the U.S. federal government to officially rename one of the Great Lakes situated between the two nations amidst an escalating trade dispute.
Google implemented the change for U.S. users and introduced an option for non-American websites to display the name “Lake Ontario” by localizing their maps and setting their region to Canada.
“These modifications align with our established protocol for bodies of water with differing names across countries,” the company stated on Saturday.
U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum informed Fox Business on Monday that Trump had reached out to Apple requesting the adjustment of Lake Ontario to Lake America in its applications. Apple has not responded to multiple requests for comments from CBC News.
Aside from offering real-time guidance to millions of users, mapping services from major U.S. tech firms are deeply embedded in the websites and operations of numerous Canadian enterprises.
They furnish details such as operating hours, contact information, reviews, and other crucial information. In the background, they facilitate address auto-completion on e-commerce platforms and enable ridesharing and food delivery applications to monitor traffic and construction activities.
“The dominance is quite evident,” Pasek noted. “People are essentially bound to these platforms.”
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Emily Osborne, a policy research associate at the Canadian Shield Institute, a think-tank in Toronto founded by BlackBerry co-founder Jim Balsillie to enhance public policy on technology and