Some Canadians are on edge after finding a handful of provincial parks in the country were labeled ‘state parks’ on Google, fanning the flames of their concern surrounding President Donald Trump’s comments that Canada will become the U.S.’ ’51st state.’
‘I went to go look for myself on Google Maps, and sure enough, a bunch of the provincial parks had been changed to state parks, and when I went to edit to suggest an edit, I had noticed that the provincial park category had been completely removed from Google entirely,’ a Canadian TikTok user, Samantha Gietema, told Canadian media outlet Global News.
Canada does not use a state system like the U.S. Instead, it is divided into 10 different provinces. Provincial parks in Canada are public areas designated by a province’s government for the purpose of preservation, tourism and recreation — similar to U.S. state parks.
Google worked to quell concerns shortly after news broke of the maps, explaining to Fox News Digital that no changes had recently taken place to swap provincial park designations to state parks. Instead, the designations have sometimes been used interchangeably across the years within Google’s system, as the two park systems operate similarly.
To avoid confusion, Google is working to update the system to reflect ‘provincial parks’ in Canada, Fox News Digital learned.
‘We have not made any recent changes to the way we label parks in Canada — the vast majority of these parks have had their existing labels for several years,’ a Google spokesperson told Fox News Digital Tuesday. ‘We’re actively working to update labels for parks in Canada to avoid confusion.’
The designations have sparked concern among some residents, with one woman telling CTV News that designating Canadian parks ‘state parks’ is ‘an attack on our Canadian identity.’
‘I would like to draw attention to this disgusting display of American oppression of Canadian culture and autonomy,’ the woman, Rachel Deren, told the Canadian outlet.
She added: ‘We are proud to be Canadian and will remain so despite attempts like this from our ever increasingly hostile neighbours to the south,’ she added, according to the outlet.
Local media confirmed a handful of provincial parks in British Columbia and Alberta were labeled ‘state parks’ Monday.
The minister of Environment and Parks in British Columbia, Tamara Davidson, told Global News that she also was aware ‘of the recent concern around the label of ‘state park’ on Google Business listings for provincial parks in B.C.’
‘I think many people are very aware and are quite sensitive to what is happening with our maps,’ she said.
Anxiety over the map designation follows Trump repeatedly saying Canada should become the U.S.’ ’51st state,’ citing that the U.S. subsidizes Canada by billions of dollars a year and that if Canada joined the U.S., Trump wouldn’t have to level tariffs on the nation.
‘I think Canada would be much better off being a 51st state because we lose $200 billion a year with Canada, and I’m not going to let that happen,’ Trump told Fox News’ Brett Baier in an interview earlier in February. ‘It’s too much. Why are we paying $200 billion a year essentially in subsidy to Canada? Now, if they’re our 51st state, I don’t mind doing it.’
Amid the confusion over the longstanding map designations, the minister of Environment and Parks in British Columbia vowed that Canada would never join the U.S. as its 51st state.
‘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,’ Davidson said.