STURGEON LAKE CREE NATION WINS IN BID FOR JUDICIAL REVIEW OF DATA CENTRE WATER PERMITS

A Court of King’s Bench judge in Alberta has dismissed celebrity investor Kevin O’Leary’s attempt to block Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation (SLCN) from requesting a judicial review of water permits for the C$70-billion Wonder Valley artificial intelligence (AI) data centre project.

WATERTODAY obtained the August 13, 2026 court decision update from a statement issued by The Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation Administration

Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation has won their first legal battle with O’Leary Digital Limited.

O’Leary, having denied they had any licences through the municipality, then applied to strike SLCN’s court challenge of the Water Act licence. Today’s decision means O’Leary’s group lost on every ground. This means that SLCN’s judicial review of the Water Act Licence, including a challenge to Alberta’s Failure to consult at all, will go ahead in December.

In response to today’s decision, SLCN Chief Sheldon Sunshine says:

“Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation is happy to have the opportunity to vindicate our Treaty rights and hold the Crown accountable on consultation. O’Leary’s data centre here in Alberta is a massive mind-boggling project, which the province has been shepherding through their regulatory system using the municipality to evade their duties to us. There is no environmental assessment and next to no consultation with our Nations.

Now, all Albertans are seeing what we have been living for 20 months – the province will push these hyperscale massive data centres in our backyards despite serious concerns. The province’s answer is “just trust us” like we saw in the Premier’s April 12 social media video.

If these massive data centres cause no harm, we ask that the province and O’Leary show us all the designs, the technical reports and let us assess these too, like every other project of this scale.”