‘Keep Hamilton human’: protesters rally again at city hall against AI data centres

Hamilton city councillors faced a massive show of public opposition today to any plans for computer data centres in the city. The councillors were considering measures to establish controls for any future data centres in Hamilton.

People who spoke out at city hall today say this goes way beyond Hamilton. They say in this new age of artificial intelligence, this is part of a North American uprising against the people they call “greedy billionaires” who they say would benefit from data centres at the expense of the local environment.

People opposed to data centres brought their message to city hall today, chanting, “Keep Hamilton human.”

Inside, an overflow crowd waited in the lobby.

“We’re done, we’re over, let’s take this planet back and stop fooling around,” one person said.

Another attendee stated, “I just want our planet to stay sustained and this is just going to — especially for Hamilton, it’s just going to ruin our water.”

“We know that the effects of an AI data centre are pretty much all negative for the surrounding area,” another community member added.

While in the council chamber, data centre opponents spoke out for several hours at the city’s planning committee meeting.

“Why are we being forced to march to the greedy billionaire techbro-tune?” one speaker asked.

They are concerned about issues including air pollution and water pollution from data centres, as well as excessive heat and noise from electricity used to power the massive computers inside a data centre.

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Opponents say anti-data centre opposition is growing.

“In the support of the councillor’s motion for a moratorium is the resistance that is rising here in Hamilton and across Canada and the U.S.,” said a speaker at city hall.

Earlier this month, the city faced a backlash over a proposed land severance connected to a proposed data centre development on former Stelco lands.

Today, the planning committee was considering a motion that would pause any data centres while the city develops guidelines for the future.

“It gives us as a municipality the framework we need to make the right choices about the conditions under which data centres should be permitted to be built in this city,” City Councillor Nrinder Nann said. “Clarity around energy usage, clarity around water usage, clarity around noise impacts and then mitigating those noise impacts, hours of operations, what kind of air emissions can we expect.”

The motion has support from other councillors.

“What this is is asking for us to have a conversation about data centres to make sure we have the proper planning tools for data centres, and making sure the public has a way to participate in the discussion,” City Councillor Cameron Kroetsch said.

City Councillor Ted McMeekin added, “We’ve gotta make sure that the human interest, not just the profit interest, is paramount.”

A spokesperson for Energy Minister Stephen Lecce told CHCH today no data centre project will proceed unless it has community support. He says the government recently passed legislation allowing it to deny a data centre energy connection if it fails to meet the province’s expectations.

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