With recent comments about Canada becoming the 51st state and U.S.-Canada relations relatively tense, some people on social media are calling out Google for using the label "state park" for provincial parks.
On multiple social media platforms, Canadians have highlighted the "state park" label for local parks, including parks in Metro Vancouver such as Golden Ears Provincial Park, Cypress Provincial Park, and Pinecone Burke Provincial Park.
Many have viewed this as a slight against Canadian sovereignty, given President Donald Trump's comments about Canada over the last two months.
"Another provincial park mislabelled as a state park on Google maps," wrote one Bluesky user with a screen capture of Say Nuth Khaw Yum Provincial Park. "Wtf is going on? BC will never be an American state."
"Our parks are Provincial Parks, NOT “State Parks”—Canada is not the U.S. and never will be!" reads part of a post on Instagram from an account called Nature_Across_Canada.
In an email to Vancouver Is Awesome, Google states the "state" label is a technical label that's existed for years.
“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. We're actively working to update labels for parks in Canada to avoid confusion,” a Google spokesperson tells V.I.A. via email.
The term "state," in this case, refers to a government in general, and not American states.
And today our local PROVINCIAL park shows as a “state” park too, in Google Maps. The flip side of all this disruption is I see it uniting Canada stronger than ever.
— Cat Lewin (@exhalecat.bsky.social) February 24, 2025 at 10:06 AM
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Another provincial park mislabelled as a state park on Google maps. Wtf is going on? BC will never be an American state. 🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦 #cdnpoli #Canada #cdnpolitics
— 🇨🇦 💙 (@heartgirl.bsky.social) February 24, 2025 at 12:44 PM
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