US President Donald Trump has asked tech firm Apple to rename Lake Ontario as Lake America on its Maps platform to comply with his executive order changing the name of the Great Lake, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has said. Burgum told Fox News on Monday that “the president has reached out to Apple directly”, adding: “I’m sure we may be seeing that change coming up soon.”
Google made the switch for its US-based users over the weekend, though users in Canada still see the lake, which borders the province of Ontario and the state of New York, as Lake Ontario.
The renaming has faced pushback in Canada, where one electrical utility company apologised on Sunday for its map displaying the Lake America name.
Hydro One, a utility company based in Toronto, said in a post on X that the name appeared due to their use of a third-party mapping service.
“We are working with our vendor to correct the issue as quickly as possible and restore the proper geographic reference,” the company said in its statement. “We regret the error and apologise for any confusion it has caused.”
Maps by other Ontario-based agencies also appeared to briefly display the name Lake America, including Hydro Ottawa and the Liquor Board of Ontario.
Trump signed the executive order on Thursday seeking to change the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America, following the collapse of trade negotiations between Canada and the US.
The order directs Burgum to “take all appropriate actions” to rename the lake, including updating the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS), the official US government map database.
Google said in a statement on Saturday that its maps will display the Lake America name for US users to comply with the GNIS.
It added that those in Canada will continue to see Lake Ontario displayed. In the rest of the world, users will see the name displayed as: Lake Ontario (Lake America).
Not all map providers are changing the name. MapQuest, an American free web mapping service launched in 1996, said “we’re not changing it” in a short Facebook post on Friday.
The platform also unveiled a tool that allows users to change the lake to any name they choose and share their creations.
After its announcement that it will not be changing the name of Lake Ontario, MapQuest rose to the top of the most-downloaded free applications as of Monday morning on the Apple App Store in Canada.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford unveiled a large sign by the lakeshore on Saturday that read “Lake Ontario Now and Always” in both English and French, Canada’s official languages.
“No one’s going to call it Lake of America,” Ford told American TV host George Stephanopoulos on Sunday. “It’s been Lake Ontario for hundreds of years. It’s going to continue being Lake Ontario.”
The names of four of the Great Lakes – Ontario, Huron, Michigan and Erie – originate from indigenous words.
By BBC News
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