'Use your brain': Hundreds march in Vancouver against AI data centre expansion

More than 500 people opposed to data centres and AI march through downtown Vancouver, BC Saturday, May 23, 2026. Photo by Jason Payne /PNG

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Vancouver university student Torin LaRocque had little experience attending protests, let alone organizing one.

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But after watching communities across the United States push back against the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence data centres, LaRocque, 18, decided it was time to bring the movement to B.C.

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On Saturday, LaRocque led a crowd of more than 500 demonstrators through downtown Vancouver, calling on the federal government to pull the plug on its proposal to expand two large-scale AI data centres in the city.

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The demonstration began at 1 p.m. at Waterfront Station, where protesters gathered and spilled into the station’s parking lot before marching down Granville Street. The crowd, which chanted “use your brain” in unison, then crossed the Granville Bridge and continued to Granville Island.

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“We will keep organizing like this until the government hears us,” LaRocque told Postmedia News before the demonstration.

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A protester holds a cardboard sign asking ‘do you want a world run on hallucinations?’ Photo by Jason Payne /PNG

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Vancouver Police were on-site monitoring the march, which disrupted vehicle traffic in the southbound lane of the Granville Street Bridge.

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The rally comes as the city prepares for a major expansion of AI infrastructure, with data centre projects planned for Mount Pleasant and downtown Vancouver as part of a federal push to strengthen Canada’s sovereign computing and artificial-intelligence infrastructure on a global scale.

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One facility would convert the former Hootsuite office building at 111 East 5th Ave. into an AI-focused data centre beginning late this year, while another proposed 10-storey centre at 150 West Georgia St. is expected to open in 2029. The projects involve telecom company Telus and are expected to be powered by tens of megawatts of electricity.

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The federal government announced the initiative earlier this month, saying the facilities would be built “responsibly and sustainably,” using a cooling system estimated to cut energy use by 80 per cent and water consumption by 90 per cent, while capturing waste heat from the centres and feeding it back into the electrical grid to potentially heat more than 150,000 homes across Metro Vancouver.

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While the project is expected to deliver $9 billion in economic value to B.C., creating more than 1,000 construction jobs and 525 permanent jobs across three new data centres — including one proposed in Kamloops — the cost of the centres has not been disclosed.

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LaRocque said the decision is baffling, citing concerns over rising electricity demand, massive water consumption and air pollution linked to AI data centres.

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“Vancouver is in the middle of a housing crisis and water shortage,” he said. “These centres will use more heat and water — it seems counterintuitive to me.”

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LaRocque is not alone.

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B.C. Greens Leader Emily Lowan has called for a halt to AI data centre construction in British Columbia until the environmental, health and security risks associated with the facilities are better understood and regulated.