Why some Canadian website maps showed “Lake America” instead of Lake Ontario

A number of Canadian websites briefly renamed Lake Ontario “Lake America” on maps, creating an unusual spillover from an escalating dispute between Canada and the United States.

Users noticed the label on websites operated by Hydro One, Metrolinx, Elections Canada, Loblaw and Infrastructure Ontario. Hydro One said its outage map displayed the incorrect name because of an issue with a third-party mapping service, and said the problem had been identified and corrected the same day.

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For a brief period yesterday (Sunday), our outage map displayed an incorrect label for Lake Ontario as a result of an issue with a third-party mapping service. The issue was identified and corrected yesterday evening.

The mapping service was Google Maps. Google said it updates map names using official government sources, including the U.S. Geographic Names Information Service, which had formally changed Lake Ontario’s name to Lake America in recent days.

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Following recent changes by Google, we’re actively reviewing our websites to make sure they all identify Lake Ontario by its correct name: Lake Ontario.

The change followed an executive order signed by U.S. President Donald Trump. The order said the United States claimed most of the lake’s “volume” and was largely responsible for its security, economic activity and environmental stewardship. It came after Trump faced criticism from Ontario Premier Doug Ford.

Google said users in Canada would see Lake Ontario, users viewing Google Maps in the United States would see Lake America, and international users would see “Lake Ontario (Lake America).” Ontario minister Stephen Crawford said some provincial websites drew map data directly from Google and were being reviewed. Google later added that developers embedding its maps can choose a region, with the Canada setting displaying Lake Ontario. By Monday afternoon, several affected Canadian websites had restored the original name.

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Lake Ontario will show when developers have set their region to Canada.