Several Canadian websites, including those of the federal government, showcased maps with Lake Ontario labeled as Lake America on Sunday, following Google Maps’ adjustment to comply with a directive from U.S. President Donald Trump. Google announced the change on its corporate website, stating that the U.S. government’s official geographic names database had formally renamed the lake.
Although Google indicated that the alteration would impact only U.S. users, various Ontario and Canadian websites featured Lake America on their maps. Among these were Hydro One’s outage map, the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) store locator, GO Transit’s station finder, and the federal government’s housing and infrastructure map.
Hydro One acknowledged the mislabeling of Lake Ontario on its outage map, attributing the error to a third-party mapping service. The utility company mentioned that it was collaborating with its vendor to promptly rectify the issue and restore the correct geographical reference.
Metrolinx, a provincial agency overseeing GO Transit, acknowledged the situation and affirmed that they were reviewing their websites to ensure Lake Ontario was correctly identified. They mentioned that they were taking steps to disable the map function on affected pages.
In response to the confusion, tech analyst Carmi Levy explained that Canadian websites like Hydro One and LCBO likely use Google’s application programming interface (API) to power their maps. Levy highlighted that APIs lack location awareness, causing maps connected to Google API to default to displaying Lake America.
Levy suggested that website developers could resolve the issue by selecting Canada as their region to localize their maps. However, he emphasized that not everyone might be aware of this solution, leading to varied outcomes until the matter is resolved.
Despite the name change, Google Maps continues to display Lake Ontario to users within Canada’s borders. The tech company updated its search index globally, making Lake America searchable worldwide, with the lake’s original name displayed alongside it for searches outside North America.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford criticized the name change, asserting that Lake Ontario will always retain its historical name. He unveiled a sign in Winona, Ontario, reaffirming the lake’s identity as “Lake Ontario Now and Always.”
President Trump’s attempt to rename Lake Ontario sparked tensions between Canada and the U.S. amid escalating trade disputes. The two nations have accused each other of last-minute changes to trade deals, with Canada announcing retaliatory measures in response to new U.S. tariffs.
Ford emphasized the need to maintain focus on achieving a mutually beneficial free-trade agreement, despite the recent confrontations with Trump. The premier also pointed out Trump’s previous executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America, drawing parallels to the current situation with Lake Ontario.