Ottawa data centre tackles sovereignty concerns

Added: 2026-05-22

[00:00:00]As we move deeper into technological world, the idea of digital sovereignty is becoming a priority for governments.

[00:00:06]This comes as city officials are trying to sell the nation's capital as a tech hub. CTV's Austin Lee toured a data center in the PM today and joins us to take us inside, Austin.

[00:00:15]>> Yeah, Patricia, the founder and the CEO of Think On, a cloud service provider, walked us through his data center here in Ottawa today. It's an interesting time in the industry with questions of sovereignty and the future of artificial intelligence front of mind. We are the only Canadian company uh on the uh federal government procurement vehicle for cloud services.

[00:00:37]The rest are all American. Inside Think On's Nepean data center, private and secure data is stored for governments and businesses. It's one of few Canadian companies in the industry. There is really a a shortage of strong domestic providers. There should be more of us.

[00:00:54]Think On's Nepean location is one of 11 the company operates across the country at a time when data sovereignty is top of mind for many. Data sovereignty could very well be the most important technological issue of our time, especially here in Canada. But why exactly is data sovereignty so important? If you take out your cell phone and you unlock it, um would you be willing to give it to the person next to you and allow them to go through all your pictures, all your images, all your emails? And most people would say, "No, I'm not okay with somebody getting access to my my personal phone like that because it's my personal information."

[00:01:31]Then why are we okay with a foreign government having access to or potentially having access to that data?

[00:01:37]American data centers follow American laws, regardless of where the data stored there originates from. With the recent political tension between Canada and the US, there's a push to build more data centers here at home. We should have been making these investments even before Donald Trump reentered the White House, but here we are. Uh and Canadians are learning that we make the rules when we build the playgrounds. Which is why companies like Think On play a key role in Canada's technological future. If you work with local domestic providers, you make them better.

[00:02:12]And by making them better, you make them more competitive. And if they're more competitive, then they can in turn deliver services to a broader array of customers locally and keep the money in Canada. Think On founder and CEO Craig McLellan says he believes in the future of Ottawa's tech industry.

[00:02:27]>> When you put a bunch of smart people together in the same region, even if they're working for competitors, they're still it's a rising tide that floats all boats.

[00:02:37]About 20% of Think On's Kanata data center is dedicated to AI technology, but that is growing and McLellan says AI requires about 10 to 12 times more power than typical data storage. As for how Think On plans to deal with excess heat generated from the data center here, McLellan hopes to one day harness it to heat nearby greenhouses. Patricia.

[00:03:01]Interesting stuff. All right, CTV's Austin Lee live for us tonight. Thank you.