Two Saskatchewan First Nations are demanding more information, and in one case a pause, on Bell Canada’s artificial intelligence data centre under construction near Regina, saying they have not been properly consulted.
Standing Buffalo Dakota Nation sent a letter to Bell on Oct. 2 asking for documents on the project in the Rural Municipality of Sherwood, according to Global News. The nation said the site lies on unceded Dakota territory.
Chief Rodger Redman said the nation has not yet had its own concerns addressed. “Our issue is that we haven’t even addressed that yet. Yet these projects are coming through,” he said. “We have to live here.”
The letter asks for ecological and cultural baseline studies, environmental impact assessments for every phase, engineering details on the air-cooled heat rejection system, and information on cooling fluid maintenance, water disposal and equipment replacement. It gives Bell 30 days to engage or provide the material, Global News reported.
Carry the Kettle First Nation issued its own letter the same day, according to MBC Radio. It wants the project paused until an environmental assessment and meaningful consultation take place. Chief Cliff Thomson said the nation has written to the Saskatchewan government and plans to contact Ottawa.
“There is limited water in our area. Our people raise cattle, so do our neighbours. We see drought conditions. We have an aquifer under our reserve to protect. We don’t know where the water is coming from and we don’t understand the impacts,” Thomson said.
He called the situation “beyond irresponsible” and said governments are effectively asking First Nations to “just trust us.”
NDP MLAs Leroy Laliberte and Brittney Senger said in a joint statement that Indigenous participation is imperative on Treaty land and urged the province to pause work until there is meaningful dialogue, according to a report from GX94 Radio.
Bell Canada Group president John Watson said the company will continue to “engage, listen, provide support and information.” Bell told Global News it is committed to ongoing engagement with local communities, including First Nations, and builds projects in line with all applicable regulatory and environmental requirements.
The Saskatchewan government pointed to the project’s scale and said it will go through the required environmental assessments and regulatory processes, GX94 Radio reported.
Construction is well advanced. At an Oct. 1 event covered by CP24, Bell said more than 500 Saskatchewan workers were on site and structural steel was rising on all four first-phase buildings. The first data hall is expected to open in the first half of 2027.
The first 300 megawatts is to come from SaskPower. Bell plans to add 900 megawatts from a natural gas facility it would build, bringing the site to 1.2 gigawatts. Reported investment totals differ, with CP24 citing $50 billion and the province’s statement as reported by GX94 Radio citing $52 billion.
The federal government has not ordered its own review of the first phase. The Impact Assessment Agency of Canada’s project page shows two requests to designate the 300-megawatt project for federal assessment, filed May 8 and May 15, were closed on June 5 as not applicable. That leaves provincial and municipal processes as the main venues for the concerns now being raised.
The dispute comes as Saskatchewan courts large-scale AI infrastructure. Questions about water use, power supply and Treaty consultation are likely to follow the project as it grows. It is not clear whether Bell will release the documents requested before the 30-day window closes in early November.
This is a developing story. Neither Bell nor the province has publicly responded to the specific water concerns raised by Carry the Kettle.
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Via Global News. Additional reporting from MBC Radio, GX94 Radio, CP24 and the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada.
