Google Maps changes Lake Ontario to ‘Lake America’ after Trump order

OTTAWA — Google’s maps service has updated to display “Lake America” when people in the United States search for the term, after U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order this week to change its name.

Canadians will still see it written out as Lake Ontario on Google Maps, but specifically searching for the term “Lake America” currently pulls up the lake and that name.

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The search giant said in a post on its corporate website that it made the change because the U.S. government’s geographic names database has formally changed the name of the lake.

“Since we update Google Maps to reflect name changes in official government sources, which is (the U.S. Geographic Names Information System) for the U.S., people using Maps in the U.S. will see Lake America,” an Aug. 29 post said.

“Those in Canada will continue to see Lake Ontario, and those outside of the U.S. and Canada will see both names.”

U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday to rename the body of water Lake America.

Prime Minister Mark Carney responded to Trump’s executive order in a social media post Thursday by saying Canadians know Lake Ontario will always be known by its original name, “then, now and always.”

Lake Ontario — one of the five Great Lakes — is located between Ontario and New York. The Canadian province is named after the lake.

Trump’s move has prompted outrage from Indigenous leaders and advocates in Canada.

The name Lake Ontario comes from the Wendat word Ontari:io, which means “the lake is beautiful, the lake is big.”

Wendat Nation Grand Chief Pierre Picard told The Canadian Press his nation was “shocked” to hear about Trump’s renaming of Lake Ontario, calling it an attempt to eradicate their history in the region.

The Wendat occupied parts of the St. Lawrence Valley to the Great Lakes, as the area was rich with both pre- and post-contact trade routes. They named the lake “Ontari:io.”

Its name predates the founding of both Canada and the United States.

Tensions between the two countries escalated since trade talks fell apart on Aug. 21.

Both countries have accused each other of implementing eleventh-hour changes to a proposed interim trade deal.

On Tuesday, the federal government unveiled its retaliatory measures, set to kick in on Sept. 8.

Trump first threatened to rename the body of water during an escalating war of words with Ontario Premier Doug Ford earlier this week.

Ford called the president a bully and a loser, while Trump said the premier was a “less charismatic” and less intelligent version of his late brother Rob Ford.

Trump signed a similar executive order last year to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.

The orders only apply to U.S. federal documents and geographic services, but some online map services and American news agencies have since called it the Gulf of America.

— with files from The Canadian Press

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