The permanent peoples' tribunal this week concluded that Canada's ongoing policies amount to genocide against indigenous people. The judge explicitly stated that a primary driver of these composite acts is to covet, value and seize indigenous lands, territories and resources. It's important to note that the tribunal's preliminary statement highlighted that resource exploitation and corporate extraction projects are often undertaken without the free, prior and informed consent of indigenous people, and that has led to significant environmental damage and violations of indigenous sovereignty.
This week, the Liberal government is set to unveil its AI strategy without, by the way, the free, prior and informed consent of impacted indigenous nations. I've heard from many constituents and national organizations that have a concern about how these data centres will have an impact on our energy supply.
My question is, how can the federal government protect indigenous communities with neighbouring data centres to ensure that indigenous people have access to energy over profit-seeking mega-tech companies?