In a recent development, Google Maps has rolled out “Lake America” labels. This move has prompted U.S. President Donald Trump to urge Apple to incorporate the same labeling on every iPhone’s preinstalled navigation app.
Experts in the technology industry emphasize a concerning reality for Canadian consumers and businesses. They are essentially tied to U.S.-owned platforms, with limited non-American alternatives available.
Anne Pasek, Canada Research Chair in Media, Culture, and the Environment at Trent University, highlighted the dominance of American tech monopolies over Canadians. She emphasized that many aspects of Canadians’ digital and daily lives fall under the purview of American companies and laws.
Several Canadian websites, including those of the federal government and major banks, have shown maps with Lake Ontario renamed as Lake America. This change was influenced by an executive order from Trump amid escalating trade tensions between the U.S. and Canada.
Google adjusted the labeling for U.S. users and provided an option for non-American websites to display “Lake Ontario” by localizing their maps to Canada.
The U.S. Interior Secretary, Doug Burgum, revealed that Trump reached out to Apple regarding the renaming request, but Apple has not responded to inquiries.
The mapping tools from U.S. tech giants are deeply integrated into the operations of numerous Canadian businesses, offering essential information such as contact details, reviews, and navigation assistance.
Emily Osborne, a policy research associate at the Canadian Shield Institute, stressed the reliance on American companies like Google and Apple for various digital services. She suggested Dutch companies TomTom and HERE Technologies as potential alternatives.
Osborne expressed concerns that escalating tensions could lead the Trump administration to target other tech-related areas to pressure Canada, such as payment processing and cloud storage.
Highlighting the vulnerability of Canadian businesses dependent on U.S.-owned digital infrastructure, Osborne pointed to the impact of the AWS outage on Canadian businesses last fall.
The outage underscored the risks faced by Canadian businesses if their access to critical digital services is restricted by government actions.