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Chants of “f–k AI” filled Hamilton’s city council chambers ahead of a raucous planning meeting Thursday morning as dozens of people packed the public gallery and over a hundred waited in the halls outside.
Outside, hundreds of people gathered before and during the meeting, chanting “Hands off Bayfront” and “You can’t replace us.”
The local planning tribunal is set to make a decision on whether development company Slate Asset Management could split a roughly 324-hectare lot it owns into two parts.
In Slate’s planning application, it notes one possible use on the smaller plot of land would be “hyperscale and enterprise data centres.”
The possible construction of a data centre has galvanized community opposition. City staff said the 1,688 people that submitted comments on the land-severance application was possibly a record.
Ahead of the meeting, Nick Tsergas, one of the locals organizing against the data centre, told CBC Hamilton he wanted to make sure members of the public could have a say.
He said he and others are worried about noise, pollution and effects on drinking water.
“People in Hamilton seem to be in touch with that reality,” he said.
Some of the protesters also held signs that were against the use of artificial intelligence more broadly, in addition to opposition to bringing a data centre here to Hamilton.
Throughout North America, the growth of AI has accelerated the development of the physical places that store, process and run data and software. Canada already has 5 hyperscale data centres. Another 96 are in development.
Proposal is in response to federal call out
Slate confirmed to CBC Hamilton Wednesday that it is participating in a proposal by the Digital Research Alliance of Canada to the federal government’s AI Sovereign Compute Infrastructure Program.
According to the government website, the program includes an “open call for applications to build a large-scale sovereign public AI supercomputer for Canadian researchers and innovators.”
Slate said the proposal is not about training AI, but about ensuring Canada has data storage capacity and access to high-performance computing.
Slate says it has not made any decision about building a data centre or who might store data in one. However, the company says that if it does build one, it believes it can operate such a facility in a way that will mitigate people’s concerns.
It says a Steelport data centre would use existing infrastructure at the former steel mill site, preventing an impact on the area’s electricity grid. It also says it could cool the data centre with water from the bay, preserving more of the resource than other cooling techniques.
Tsergas said that did not assuage his worries.
“It really benefits them to say those sorts of things, he said. “Frankly, I don’t believe them.”
By 11:30 a.m. Thursday, about a dozen residents had spoken to the committee meeting. Secretary-treasurer Justin Leung said the committee would hear from everyone who wanted to speak.
Common themes included concerns about a data centre polluting the city’s water, air, and heating up the area.
Multiple people said they opposed the land severance application because they don’t want Slate to be able to quicken development of a possible data centre.
Many called for greater scrutiny of any data centre proposal.
Waterdown resident Chase Alford said he’d like the committee to impose conditions on the lot severance, including water and energy use disclosure.
“I’m not asking you to end the data centre. I’m asking you to look out for the residents of Hamilton,” said Alford, who is registered to run for council in Ward 15.
Data centre already an approved use of city’s industrial sites
Slate has noted data centres are one of several approved uses of the former steel mill site under its industrial zoning. Its plans for the wider lot is a mixed-use development called Steelport, which it says would bring $10 billion in investment and 30,000 jobs to the region.
Ahead of the committee meeting, staff and security turned people away from entering the council chambers as many loudly voiced their opposition.
Workers told people that while there were open seats, some were reserved for members of the media and city staff.
A TV was set up outside the chambers so people could hear the meeting and people signed up to speak could come in when called.
CBC Hamilton asked the city how it responds to community members’ concerns about access but did not receive an immediate response.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced the launch of the government’s AI for All strategy. ‘Prosperity and sovereignty in the age of AI belong to those nations that can build, adopt and govern AI on their own terms,’ Carney said. ‘AI that is accountable to Canadians, AI that serves all Canadians.’
Hamilton is one of multiple communities in which residents have protested data centre projects, including Vancouver and Regina.
The federal government is promoting data centre construction, citing economic benefits and the ability to keep Canadian data within the country.
Shion Guha, a University of Toronto professor in the Faculty of Information Technology, previously told CBC Hamilton the country is developing data centre regulations as it builds them.
He said guidance around public consultation on data centres and governance of how they use water is lacking.
On Tuesday, CBC Hamilton asked Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada whether the new federal AI strategy — unveiled Thursday by Prime Minister Mark Carney — will include guidance for data centre development. A spokesperson said the department would not be able to respond before publication.
