Alberta First Nation voices 'grave concern' over Kevin O'Leary's proposed $70B AI data centre
CBC
An ambitious plan from celebrity investor Kevin O'Leary to build the "world's largest" AI data centre in northern Alberta is facing opposition from a First Nation in the region.
In December, O'Leary Ventures announced plans to build Wonder Valley, a $70-billion data centre in the Municipal District of Greenview, near Grande Prairie.
The project has been widely praised, including by Alberta Premier Danielle Smith.
Its location would put it on traditional territory of the Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation.
"Our people have been working and living in this territory for a millennia, so it's concerning when we have the government and Mr. O'Leary talking about big plans and there was no mention of First Nation consultation," Chief Sheldon Sunshine told CBC News.
O'Leary has described the project as transformative for the local and provincial economy, with the potential to create thousands of jobs and make Alberta a global leader in AI infrastructure.
His company has emphasized Alberta's advantages for such a large-scale operation, citing its proximity to a nearby city, abundant natural gas, cool temperatures, and available space for the infrastructure.
The data centre would be powered by a combination of off-grid natural gas and geothermal energy sources. The first phase of the development would cost $2 billion and generate 1.4 gigawatts of power, with additional phases planned to increase capacity.
For the Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation however, the development is seen as an infringement on treaty rights.
In an open letter to Premier Danielle Smith, Sunshine expressed "grave concern" with the proposal, and reminded the premier that the province is bound by its obligations under Treaty 8.
Sunshine accused the province of working with O'Leary "behind closed doors and to the exclusion of our Nation, for a massive development on our traditional territory.
"This co-ordination is even more troubling, given the premier's and Mr. O'Leary's favourable statements towards [president-elect Donald] Trump following his threats to annex Canada," he said in the letter.
He said the First Nation's opposition is focused on the environmental risks posed by the construction of such a large-scale data facility in an ecologically sensitive area.
First Nations members have traplines in the area, rely on water from the Smoky River and use the area "to exercise our way of life, which has been systemically eroded by unmitigated cumulative effects from the provincial government's authorizations of industrial development in our territory," Sunshine wrote.
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