People using Google Maps in the U.S. will see Lake America - but the rest of the world will still see Lake Ontario.
On Saturday, Google Maps announced that the update was made after U.S. Geographic Names Information Systems (GNIS) formally made the name change.
In a blog post, it stated that updates are made to reflect names changes in official government sources.
People using the application in the U.S. will see ‘Lake America’, while those in Canada will see ‘Lake Ontario’. Users outside of North America will see both names, the post reads.
“These updates follow our long-standing policy for bodies of water with names that vary from country to country, and are starting to roll out now,” it reads.
The update follows after U.S President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday to have Lake Ontario formally changed to be called Lake America in U.S databases and maps.
However, other mapping services like Apple Maps and MapQuest have not yet adopted president’s update. Shortly after the announcement, MapQuest shared a post online with a statement that read “we’re not changing it.”
Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre called the change “a mistake.”
“Google is wrong,” he told reporters in Brampton, Ont. on Sunday.
“Google should restore the name to what it always was and what it always will be. It is Lake Ontario,” he continued.
“It is Lake Ontario today and it will be Lake Ontario always.”
It’s official! LAKE AMERICA on Google Maps,” White House communications director Steven Cheung posted on the social media website X on Sunday.
This weekend, Ontario Premier Doug Ford unveiled a message of his own with a sign that read ‘Lake Ontario, Now and Always’ displayed in Winona, Ont.
“President Trump can call it whatever he wants but I can tell you that the rest of the world will always call it Lake Ontario,” he told reporters. “We’re resilient and we’re strong Canadians.”
Speaking to ABC News Sunday morning, in a prerecorded interview, the premier acknowledged that previous remarks between himself and the president “got heated,” but framed his comments as a necessary response to ongoing disrespect.
“I went on all the U.S. networks and yeah, it got heated. But no, you got to eventually stand up to someone that just continuously attacks our country and and insults our country,” he said.
Ford also downplayed and pushed back against Trump’s energy threats by arguing that Canada is actually a key energy supplier to the U.S., not a dependent.
He noted that Ontario alone supplies electricity to about 1.5 million homes and businesses in states like New York, Minnesota, and Michigan, and added that provinces across Canada send power south as well.
“There’s countries all over the world that want our uranium, our potash, our high-grade nickel, and every other critical mineral. I’d rather send it down to the U.S... everyone’s feeling bullied by President Trump, and this is the worst thing you could do for the American economy.”
The premier later mocked and dismissed Trump’s move to rename Lake Ontario as “Lake America.”
He said it was “like something out of Saturday Night Live” and insisted that “no one’s going to call it Lake America.”
“I love the U.S., I love the American people, Canadians love the American people (but) we differentiate between the great American people and the president.”
