Tech giant Google has made updates to its Maps application, introducing the label “Lake America” in place of Lake Ontario. U.S. President Donald Trump has urged Apple to mirror this change by preinstalling the updated navigation app on every iPhone.
Industry experts point out that this move underscores a challenging reality for many Canadian users and businesses. They find themselves heavily reliant on American-owned platforms, with limited alternatives outside the U.S. “Canadians are significantly impacted by American tech monopolies, a fact often overlooked until situations like this arise,” stated Anne Pasek, Canada Research Chair at Trent University.
Several Canadian websites, including federal government portals and major banks, have recently displayed maps with the altered label for Lake Ontario. The adjustment follows an executive order from Trump as part of a trade dispute between the U.S. and Canada.
Google clarified that the label change primarily affects U.S. users, offering non-American websites the option to display the original “Lake Ontario” label by adjusting their map settings to Canada. The company explained that this update aligns with their existing policy for bodies of water with varying names across countries.
Trump reportedly reached out to Apple requesting the change from Lake Ontario to Lake America on their platforms. However, Apple has not provided any public response to these requests.
The integration of mapping tools from American tech giants plays a critical role for numerous Canadian businesses, supplying essential information such as contact details, reviews, and operational hours. Additionally, these tools support functions like address auto-complete for e-commerce sites and traffic monitoring for ride-sharing and food delivery apps.
Emily Osborne from the Canadian Shield Institute highlighted the reliance on U.S. companies like Google and Apple for digital services, suggesting Dutch companies TomTom and HERE Technologies as potential alternatives. The acquisition of Toronto-based Avenza Systems by Blue Marble Geographics has eliminated a previous Canadian option for mapping services.
Concerns have been raised about potential tech-related vulnerabilities that Canada could face in escalating tensions with the U.S. Osborne mentioned payment processing and cloud storage as possible areas where pressure could be exerted. The recent AWS outage exemplifies the impact such disruptions can have on Canadian businesses heavily reliant on U.S.-owned digital infrastructure.
