AI DATA CENTRES

It’s politely known as “the hum,” but the sound from data centres is more like a round-the-clock screeching hiss. 

That sound is one of the most immediate reasons that, across Canada, people are opposing data centres. There are a lot of other reasons: surveillance, AI companies’ goal of replacing millions of workers, climate-breaking fossil fuel emissions, violence both to women and workers in the global majority, the slop filling our feeds, planet-scale intellectual property theft, and more.  Hidden in the hum are deep consequences for our communities, our country and our humanity. 

The hum is the marketed promise, while the ear deafening screech is the reality many are facing across the country.

But Canada’s government wants to speed up data centres. A government leaked briefing prepared for federal AI Minister Evan Solomon showed that Canada’s AI data centre capacity could grow 65-fold. The federal “AI For All” strategy has 50 pages of marketing possible benefits, and one vague section on AI fuelled by renewable energy. At this moment, benefits are being professed without any regulations to protect communities or our shared land and waters. 

A growing consensus points in the other direction: slow down, and give us the time and information to understand the impacts. That’s why the Council of Canadians is calling for a Canada-wide moratorium on data centre construction, and permanent requirements that every data centre disclose the following, on an ongoing basis:

• How much water it’s using, and what happens with the waste
• How much power it consumes, and where that comes from
• Where the minerals and materials for the chips and equipment come from
• What the computational capacity is being used for 

Sources:

• Canada data centre capacity could soar to 20 GW in planned projects, government document, The Canadian Press via BNN Bloomberg, July 8, 2026
• Canada’s National Artificial Intelligence Strategy: AI For All

AI: It’s time to pause it until they prove it. Federal moratorium until regular monitoring and regulations are in place. We need to know impacts, inputs and intent.

Is the data centre fuelling warfare or entertainment? Until we can answer that question with clarity – we need a federal moratorium

Data centres are being proposed in already water-stressed regions. Until we know what they’re drinking, we need a national pause.