This is testy territory considering Trump's 51st state and tariff trash talk.
Google 'Bear Creek Provincial Park' in West Kelowna and you'll get the Google Maps entry as the top item referring to Bear Creek as a 'state park'.
The Google Maps information still lists 'Bear Creek Provincial Park' as the main title, but, insidiously, the 'state park' description is just below the name.
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Same thing when you Google 'Myra-Bellevue Provincial Park', the canyon near Kelowna where you can hike and bike the famed and dramatic former trestles of the Kettle Valley Railway.
Same goes for a Google search of 'John Dean Provincial Park' in Victoria, 'Kickinee Provincial Park' in Penticton, 'Roche Lake Provincial Park' near Kamloops and 'Ross Lake Provincial Park' near Prince George.
Canada has provinces and America has states.
Therefore, British Columbia has 'provincial' parks, Washington and Oregon have 'state' parks.
BC and Canada does not want its parks referred to with the Americanism of 'state.'
BC also does not want this turning into a fait accompli a la the Gulf of Mexico.
US President Donald Trump declared the Gulf of Mexico be renamed the Gulf of America.
Google -- the US tech giant responsible for most of our internet searches -- complied to make sure Google searches and Google Maps refer to the body of water as the Gulf of America for US users.
For Google users in Canada and the rest of the world it still comes up as the Gulf of Mexico but has Gulf of America in brackets beside it.
Google users in Mexico still, thankfully, see it as the Gulf of Mexico.
Now back to BC provincial parks being referred to as 'state' parks by Google Maps and Google Business listings.
"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 BC Minister of Environment and Parks Tamara Davidson.
"BC Parks is aware of the recent concern around the label of 'state park' on Google for provincial parks in BC. Some users have reported that 'provincial park' is no longer an option and has been removed. We cannot validate that, and it is our understanding that the 'state park' label has always been the default setting on Google. We have reached out to Google Canada to request a unique label option of 'provincial park'."
British Columbians are riled up.
On various online forums people are lashing out.
On the Google Maps forum Julia P 588 wrote: This is an unacceptable threat from an American company given the current political climate.
Jason Spates chimed in: If this doesn't change immediately, I'm switching everything away from Google and cancelling all my subscriptions.
"I have un-installed Google Maps because of this," said User 117...
User 127...added: We are not part of the United States. Fix it, or you're going to find 40 million people dropping Google.
Odin7911 summed up: You (Google) are completely out of line here and it shows me that this is a politically based move on your part. Yes, we all know that you're afraid of Trump and kissed the ring and followed his wish of renaming the Gulf of Mexico, which is also absurd. Canada is a sovereign nation and will never be part of the USA.
You can request a change on Google and Google Maps by hitting the three little vertical dots to the right of your search result.
For instance, after a search for 'Bear Creek Provincial Park' you can hit the three dots and get four options -- about this result, share, suggest and edit and send feedback.
Canadians are suggesting edits and sending feedback to get rid of the 'state park' label.
Google said it is looking into it.
Thumbnail background photo courtesy of BC Parks.
