Hundreds protest across Nova Scotia against Cape Breton AI data centre

HALIFAX — Hundreds of dissenting voices echoed through the streets on Saturday, criticizing the construction of the AI data centre in Cape Breton.

Voices included calls for AI and data centre regulation, environmental assessments and stewardship, concerns over the facility’s water and power demands, and criticism of Premier Tim Houston and his government. 

The AI data centre being constructed in Point Tupper, which borders Port Hawkesbury, was first announced Oct. 16, after site-clearing work had already begun. The $10 billion EverWind Fuels project will help power Anthropic’s AI agent Claude. 

Leah Walter, a protest organizer, said she and other organizers were ecstatic to see so many people coming out in the rain to make themselves heard.

“It is an exciting opportunity to capitalize on the movement. I feel like this is a unique one, especially where we are a cross-province [movement]. It is all out,” says Watler, who’s also a student at Dalhousie University and an organizer with Nova Scotia Student Strike.

“The motivation is to keep our earth safe and to give our children a future. If we are continuing to invest like this, profit over people is never going to get us anywhere.”

Similar protests took place simultaneously across Nova Scotia in Bridgewater, Westville, Port Hawkesbury, Sydney, Kentville, and Truro.

Protestors in Halifax gathered at Province House for speeches, then closed streets as they marched a loop around part of downtown, past Province House, City Hall and the Halifax Convention Centre. Chants calling Houston a “crook,” as well as ones saying “eat the rich” and “fuck AI” were frequently repeated. 

EverWind aims to have the data centre fully operational by 2028. The company anticipates construction to generate 2,000 jobs, and 215 full-time employees to maintain it once online. Upon completion, it will draw 500,000 litres of water per day from Landry Lake, where Port Hawkesbury residents get their drinking water.

Loren Baldwin, a protester who brought a sign depicting a guillotine to the rally, says she doesn’t just oppose the data centre itself, but the people behind the corporations pushing for more construction.

“If you have any morality at all, if you are a human being who has a soul, then you should believe in human rights and know that AI data centres are just fundamentally in opposition to basic human rights,” she says.

Walter says protest organizers aim to hold future rallies against the data centre.