Massive protest march against Vancouver AI data centres to impact weekend traffic
A huge demonstration against the proposed cluster of AI data centres in Vancouver will take place on Saturday, May 23, and traffic may be impacted throughout downtown.
A group behind the Instagram page @no.ai.vancouver was formed shortly after news broke that Telus was moving ahead with plans to build a major sovereign artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure network in British Columbia.
This includes new AI data centres at two Westbank properties in Vancouver that could become fully operational before the end of this decade.
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“No.ai.vancouver is trying to spread awareness about the impact of AI data centres on the environment, help in halting the construction of these AI data centres, and looking out for the people who call this place home,” said Torin LaRocque, an 18-year-old student living in Vancouver who founded the group.
“I was inspired to create this movement after seeing all the devastation these centres are causing to people living nearby.”
For LaRocque, one of the top negative issues surrounding the proposed facilities is their impact on the environment.
“Telus states that the new AI Data Centres use 90 per cent less energy than the average centre,” said the Vancouver resident. “However, they also state that they will have more than 60,000 GPUs on the conservative side.
“[If] each GPU will process an AI prompt a day, that is still over 1400 litres of water being used a day. Vancouver is already under stage two water restrictions. Why should we let these data centres use the water that Vancouver’s population needs?”
Torin LaRocque
The demonstration on Saturday, May 23, begins with poster-making at Victory Square at 11 a.m., with some supplies provided.
Participants in the protest against the AI Data Centres will meet at Waterfront Station at 1 p.m., with plans to march down Granville Street starting at 1:30 p.m.
The march, which LaRocque said could draw a large procession, will continue over the bridge until it reaches Granville Island.
Officers from the Vancouver Police Department (VPD) will be on site during the demonstration.
Margarita Young/Shutterstock
“We are aware and working with the organizer of the planned protest on Saturday, May 23 at 1 p.m,” said Constable Megan Lui. “VPD will have officers in the area and monitoring the march.”
LaRocque, who describes himself as an initiator of the group, shared that the positive response from the community has been honestly shocking.
“I am confident that if enough people show up and demand change, either by protesting or signing the petition, we can bring this to the city with more than just one person backing it up. The more signatures and protesters we have, the more the City will be unable to ignore.”
The group has also shared a link to a petition calling for a stop to the Vancouver AI Data Centre, which has garnered over 1,400 signatures as of press time.
Daily Hive reached out to the City for comment on the protest, with a representative responding, “The City of Vancouver recognizes and upholds the right to free speech and peaceful protest.”
2026 concept of the 10-storey Telus AI data centre at 150 West Georgia St., Vancouver. (Westbank/Telus)
On May 11, Telus announced that it is working with the Government of Canada and Westbank on a proposed cluster of AI-focused data centres. The project forms part of the federal government’s Enabling Large-Scale Sovereign AI Data Centres initiative, aimed at strengthening Canada’s domestic AI infrastructure.
The Vancouver-based company noted the three-site B.C. network will eventually scale to more than 60,000 graphics processing units (GPUs) and 150 megawatts of computing capacity by 2032. One of the facilities is planned for Kamloops, which is expected to launch later this year.
According to BC Hydro, the utility and the Province are taking a “managed and phased approach to serving these large new loads to protect affordability and reliability for residential customers.”
On the Vancouver subreddit, many comments were in regard to the chosen locations.
The first new Vancouver AI data centre facility will be achieved at the 1977-built, six-storey M3 office building at 111 East 5th Ave. — home to a portion of Hootsuite’s headquarters office for more than a decade.
Another Telus facility is expected to come online in 2029 at 150 West Georgia St. (formerly 720 Beatty St.), situated at the intersection of Beatty Street and West Georgia Street in downtown Vancouver.
“It seems absolutely nutso to use this sort of transit accessible downtown real estate for something that would mostly house computers and generate relatively few jobs,” a Redditor said.
“Next to BC Place, that should be a hotel or office tower. You could put a data centre anywhere else in Metro Vancouver. Baffling.”