“Lake America” labels are now visible on Google Maps, and President Donald Trump is urging Apple to do the same by default on every iPhone’s navigation app.
Experts in the technology sector point out a concerning reality for many Canadians and businesses: they are essentially tied to these platforms owned by the U.S., with very few alternative options from outside America.
Anne Pasek, a Canada Research Chair in Media, Culture, and the Environment at Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario, emphasized that Canadians are significantly impacted by American tech monopolies, often overlooking this until controversial situations arise.
She highlighted that a considerable part of Canadian digital and daily lives falls under the jurisdiction of American companies and laws.
Several Canadian websites, including those of the federal government, exhibited maps with the name ‘Lake Ontario’ switched to ‘Lake America’ on August 30, following Google Maps’ adjustment to comply with an executive order from President Trump. Google clarified that the modification was intended for U.S. users only, but some Canadian sites utilizing third-party protocols linked to Google’s U.S. API were impacted by the change.
Various Canadian websites, including government pages and major banks in the country, have recently presented maps with the renaming of Lake Ontario to Lake America.
These modifications came after an executive order from Trump that instructed the U.S. federal government to officially rename one of the Great Lakes between the two nations during an escalating trade conflict.
Google implemented the adjustment for U.S. users and introduced an option for non-American websites to display the original label “Lake Ontario” by customizing their maps and specifying their location as Canada.
“These updates align with our established policy for bodies of water with differing names across countries,” the company announced on Saturday.
U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum revealed on Fox Business that Trump had reached out to Apple to request the change from Lake Ontario to Lake America in its applications. Apple has not yet responded to requests for comments from CBC News.
In addition to offering navigation assistance to millions of users, mapping tools from major U.S. tech companies are deeply integrated into the websites and operations of numerous Canadian enterprises.
They provide essential details such as business hours, contact information, reviews, and more. In the background, they facilitate functions like address auto-completion on e-commerce platforms and enable ride-sharing and food delivery apps to track traffic and road conditions.
Pasek highlighted the existence of a significant monopoly, stating that users are heavily reliant on these platforms.
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Emily Osborne, a policy research associate at the Canadian Shield Institute, a Toronto-based think-tank founded by BlackBerry co-founder Jim Balsillie to enhance public policy on technology and national security, emphasized the dependence on American companies like Google and Apple for various digital services and products, including navigation.
For basic navigation needs, she proposed Dutch companies TomTom and HERE Technologies as potential alternatives to Google and