Chief Sheldon Sunshine has issued a letter to the Government of Alberta, indicating the Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation’s opposition to the construction of the proposed O’Leary AI Data Centre in the Greenview Industrial Gateway.
In the letter, Chief Sunshine cites the Greenview Industrial Gateway as including land that is shared between the Crown and Treaty No. 8, which was signed in 1899, and many SLCN members still use for trapping and the water from Smoky River.
“It is one of the few areas accessible to exercise our way of life, which has been systemically eroded by unmitigated cumulative effects resulting from the provincial government’s authorizations of industrial development in our territory,” he says. “It is for these reasons that our Nation opposed the Greenview Municipality acquiring this land in the first place.”
The Chief goes on to claim “neither the provincial government nor Greenview” have notified the Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation of plans for the land, saying the Crown “cannot avert” its Treaty obligations.
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“Hearing media reports of Carbon Capture Sequestration plans, we wrote to Greenview on May 16th, 2024 asking for meaningful engagement and consultation; we received no response,” he says. “We similarly wrote to Minister Rick Wilson to identify the land transfer and the resulting cumulative effects on our ability to exercise our way of life; we received a generic response to contact the province’s largely defunct Cumulative Effects Management Agency, who we note, has not done any cumulative effects assessments in our area.”
“We have received zero consultation from O’Leary Ventures Inc, or the Greenview Municipality on the proposed use of our traditional territory for this AI Data Centre,” he adds.
Despite this, O’Leary Ventures CEO Paul Palandjian has been quoted as saying- “One of our core values for the project is to engage with First Nations Indigenous communities,” in order to create a “mutually beneficial” relationship between the organization and the area’s First Nations communities for several years to come.
Chief Sunshine continues in his letter, asking five questions of the Alberta Government and O’Leary Ventures including some surrounding water licenses, provincial regulations, and the subject of potential foreign investors being involved in the project.
As a result, Chief Sunshine indicates Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation is formally objecting to the provincial government’s “coordination behind closed doors” to complete the project and asks the Provincial Government to cease using the land without expressed consent from Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation.
“Please take note that Treaty No. 8 imposes solemn obligations on the Crown, including under international law,” Sunshine said in his letter. “We therefore and respectfully ask that the provincial government cease and desist from using our traditional territory in this manner and in coordination with a proponent, without our free, prior, and informed consent.”
In his letter, Chief Sunshine indicates SLCN “looks forward” to a fulsome and timely response from the province “no later” than January 20th, 2025.