A First Nation in northern Alberta is pulling out of a meeting with a trio of UCP cabinet ministers concerning Kevin O’Leary’s $70 billion AI data centre project called Wonder Valley.
The Chief of Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation penned a letter Wednesday, saying the 30-minute online meeting on Feb. 24 does not amount to meaningful consultation.
“We understood it was in person and for at least an hour. On its face, it seems that this meeting is being set up to provide a tick on the box, so that the province can say they’ve fulfilled their duty to consult,” Chief Sheldon Sunshine wrote.
“When we meet with government, we expect to have a substantive discussion regarding your decisions that will negatively impact our rights, especially in this case. We expect more than introductions. We cannot in good faith attend this meeting as scheduled.”
Alberta’s environment minister is one of the officials named in the letter. A reporter asked her about Sunshine’s letter at an unrelated press conference in Calgary on Thursday.
“Uh, yeah, I’m not aware of that just yet today. I know we always seek to do meeting in person when available,” Rebecca Schulz said.
Three weeks ago, O’Leary told CityNews he met with Premier Danielle Smith about the AI data centre, and she told him, “I can issue permits for projects like this in the province.”
CityNews has been asking the Alberta government for a month about the premier’s dealings with O’Leary and if any taxpayer money is involved in the data centre project.
A spokesperson for the Indigenous relations minister said in an email to CityNews on Jan. 14 that the government was working on a response to questions, but 31 days later, no answers had been provided.
That spokesperson would only say Friday the government is reaching out to Chief Sunshine to schedule a meeting.
The Chief’s letter also accuses the provincial government of trying to evade Treaty rights.
“Of utmost concern is the province’s apparent use of the Greenview Municipality District to transfer land and licences to O’Leary Ventures Inc., in an apparent attempt to evade the provincial crown’s obligations to our nation and the accompanying regulatory processes. This is not honourable,” Chief Sunshine wrote.
The Alberta NDP leader blasted the project Friday and accused the government of mishandling it.
“I’m not at all concerned that this project will end up being a horrible thing because this project is never going to get built,” Naheed Nenshi told CityNews Friday.
“[Smith] is also not allowed to issue permits. That’s not in the premier’s job description. But what is very, very clear is she promised Kevin O’Leary the moon, the sun and the stars for a ticket to Mar-A-Lago.”
Nenshi believes advancements in Chinese AI may make the project no longer viable. He added that an NDP government would improve Indigenous relations in Alberta.
“We need to prove to the world that we can get big projects built. We do so with real, meaningful consultation. These guys didn’t even realize there was Indigenous folks in the region,” Nenshi said referring to government officials.
A spokesperson for O’Leary did not respond to a request for comment on this story.