‘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,’ B.C. Minister of Environment and Parks Tamara Davidson told the National Post
Google says it is “actively working to update labels” for Canadian parks after users pointed out that several provincial parks have been categorized as “state parks,” which is the American term.
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By Tuesday morning, more than 1,300 people clicked a button on the post saying they had the same question.
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.”)
In an emailed statement to the National Post, a Google spokesperson said the company has “not made any recent changes” to the way it labels parks in Canada and “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
Google spokesperson
“We’re actively working to update labels for parks in Canada to avoid confusion,” the statement said.
The spokesperson added that there are “many labels for parks in our systems.” The terms are “sometimes used interchangeably in our backend systems” because of their similarities. For example, both provincial and state parks are managed by the Canadian and U.S. government, respectively.
BC Parks, where many of the mislabelled provincial parks are located, said it was aware of the concern about Canadian parks having a “state park” label.
“We have reached out to Google Canada to request a unique label option of ‘provincial park.’ 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,” said B.C. Minister of Environment and Parks Tamara Davidson in an emailed statement to the National Post.
Alexandru Cioban, a spokesperson for the Minister of Forestry and Parks of Alberta, said Alberta Parks also knew about the matter.
“We have already reached out to submit requests for an immediate correction. These parks are, and always will be, Alberta provincial parks,” Cioban said in an email to the National Post.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt reasserted the Trump administration’s stance at a press conference in mid-February.
“If we feel there are lies being pushed by outlets in this room, we are going to hold those lies accountable,” she said. “And it is a fact that the body of water off the coast of Louisiana is called the Gulf of America, and I’m not sure why news outlets don’t want to call it that but that is what it is.”
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