Canadians upset at ‘STATE’ labels for Provincial Parks on Google Maps… ‘An attack on our Canadian identity’

‘An attack on our Canadian identity’: Google Maps users report provincial parks mislabelled as ‘state’ parks

Some Google Maps users in Canada are claiming provincial parks have been labelled as “state” parks.

“This alarming revelation has stirred many who have noticed, as it is an attack on our Canadian identity,” Rachel Deren wrote to media. “I would like to draw attention to this disgusting display of American oppression of Canadian culture and autonomy.”

And B.C. Minister of Environment and Parks Tamara Davidson told the National Post: ‘We understand the concerns this has raised in the context of recent events — and let’s be clear, we will never be the 51st state,’

She said Canadian Google Maps users are reporting errors to the tech giant, marking the parks as having “incorrect designations” and suggesting edits to the category.

“We are proud to be Canadian and will remain so despite attempts like this from our ever increasingly hostile neighbours to the south.”

Mount Robson Park, Whaleboat Island Marine Provincial Park and Pinecone Burke Provincial Park are some of Canada’s parks that have been relabelled, according to screenshots shared by users and verified by media.

Samantha Gietema, another user, said the tech giant removed “provincial parks” as a category on the app altogether.

Anger from some Canadian Google Maps users was sparked given Canada’s recent row with U.S. President Donald Trump threatening to make Canada its 51st state and referencing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as “Governor Trudeau.”

In a statement to media, a Google spokesperson said no recent changes were made to the labels on Google Maps.

“The vast majority of these parks have had their existing labels for several years. We’re actively working to update labels for parks in Canada to avoid confusion,” they said in an email.

Why Google Maps label it a ‘state’ park

Long-time Google Maps contributor Mackenzie Shopland, a level 10 local guide with more than 20,000 edits to B.C. parks and public natural spaces, told CTV News in an email that many countries use the “state park” category because there is none currently for “provincial park.”

“If you ever see the extremely rare ‘provincial park’ used as a category, this was imported automatically by Google using the old Google Map Maker categories. They have long since simplified the categories (there used to be many hundreds of obscure categories) and provincial park is no longer an option when adding or editing parks,” she said.

Shopland said the “state park” category has to do with how the labels are prioritized for display.

“Unfortunately, Google has decided to never publish any kind of formal definition for these like the community has for Open Street Maps,” she said.

The Google spokesperson said they are used interchangeably in Google’s backend systems due to the similarity in state and provincial parks, both of which are managed by governments.

The issue seems more pertinent recently for some Canadians, as tensions rise between Canada and the United States, with threats of tariffs and jabs about Canada becoming the 51st state from American President Donald Trump. Canadians have been inclined to buy locally made brands and even cancel trips to the U.S. The sentiment is extending to how Canadian locations are being labelled on maps.

“There (are) not any state parks in Canada regardless of what Trump wants Google to have people think,” commented one Google Maps community member with the username Kelly Knudsen on the post about provincial parks being mislabelled.

Canadian parks such as B.C.’s Stawamus Chief Provincial Park and Murrin Provincial Park are categorized as “state park” when entered into the Google Maps search bar. Similarly for Alberta, so are Peter Lougheed Provincial Park and Big Hill Springs Provincial Park. In Ontario, too, parks such as Short Hills Provincial Park and Sibbald Point Provincial Park were labelled as “state park.” (By Tuesday, however, a search for those Ontario parks showed that they were labelled “park.”)

The Great Canadian Identity Crisis | Zed or Zee? Our democracy could depend on the answer