Tech industry experts have pointed out that Canadians are heavily reliant on U.S.-owned platforms like Google Maps and Apple, leading to a lack of viable non-American alternatives. The recent renaming of Lake Ontario to “Lake America” on Google Maps, following an executive order by U.S. President Donald Trump, has underscored this dependence.
Anne Pasek, a Canada Research Chair at Trent University, emphasized that many aspects of Canadians’ digital lives fall under the control of American companies and are subject to American laws. Notably, several Canadian websites, including federal government sites and major banks, displayed maps with the controversial “Lake America” label.
Google implemented the name change for U.S. users, offering non-American websites the option to display the original name by adjusting their maps to reflect the Canadian region. The company justified this decision as part of its standard policy for bodies of water with varying names across countries.
While Trump reportedly urged Apple to adopt the “Lake America” label, the tech giant has not publicly responded to these requests. The integration of mapping tools from U.S. tech giants into numerous Canadian businesses’ websites and operations has highlighted the extent of reliance on these platforms for essential functions like providing directions, business information, and e-commerce support.
Emily Osborne of the Canadian Shield Institute raised concerns about potential vulnerabilities in Canada’s reliance on American tech companies for crucial digital services. She suggested exploring alternatives like Dutch companies TomTom and HERE Technologies for navigation services. The acquisition of the Toronto-based Avenza Systems by Blue Marble Geographics further reduced Canada’s domestic tech options.
As tensions persist between Canada and the U.S., Osborne warned of the possibility of the Trump administration leveraging other tech-related pressure points, such as payment processing and cloud storage, to exert influence. The recent AWS outage serves as a reminder of the risks Canadian businesses face when depending on U.S.-owned digital infrastructure, especially if access were ever restricted due to a government directive.
