Starting Sunday, seven of the most powerful people in the world will be at the G7 Summit in Kananaskis, Alta., where they will discuss economic instability and security issues, including Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Unsurprisingly, to bring the most powerful people in the world together, even at the best of times — and this is not the best of times — necessitates a massive security operation, with coordination across multiple Canadian agencies.
“(Security) is both massive and essential,” said John Kirton, the director of the G7 Research Project at the University of Toronto.
While Canadians are perhaps unlikely to have wildly strong views about French President Emmanuel Macron or Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, U.S. President Donald Trump has angered millions of Canadians with his aggressive rhetoric. Prime Minister Mark Carney has also angered many by inviting Saudia Arabia’s Mohammed bin Salman and India’s Narendra Modi.
Already, unspecified security concerns have led to at least one ceremonial casualty: Calgary’s White Hatter ceremony. Traditionally, the ceremony welcomes delegates to Alberta’s largest city, and they’re handed a white Smithbilt cowboy hat to celebrate Calgary’s frontier spirit.
In 2002, when the G8 Summit was also held in Kananaskis, leaders were given the ceremonial hats. U.S. president George W. Bush put it on his head, but Jacques Chirac, the late French president, reportedly turned up his nose at the gift and Russian President Vladimir Putin — not yet the international pariah he is today — examined the hat without putting it on his head. This time, however, there will be no ceremony.
“We have to respect that security considerations today are very different from the last time we hosted the summit in 2002 … there’s been a lot of nostalgia about what we were able to do in 2002,” said Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek earlier this week.
In 2002, a bear also died after falling from a tree as security officials were trying to scare it away from delegates. This year’s security team has a bear trap, should a curious bear get too close to the humans in the region.
The meeting, last held in Canada in Charlevoix, Quebec, in 2018, will happen against the backdrop of a global economic reorientation. Under Trump, the United States has initiated an international tariff war, breaking down decades of movement towards free trade. Meanwhile, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been invited to the conference — and Israel’s war on Hamas continues to destabilize the Middle East.
For the leaders at the G7, there are a number of security concerns, said Kirton: The first is that Trump survived an assassination attempt in July 2024, so there are general concerns about the safety of attendees. The second is that three leaders — France’s Macron, the U.K.’s Keir Starmer and the U.S.’s Trump — need to have staff on hand with the nuclear football in case of nuclear war. (None of the other powers at the G7, unless Modi attends, head countries with nuclear weapons.) There’s also the risk of violence or a terror attack or the possibility that a protest will get out of hand, such as in Genoa, Italy in 2001, when more than 200,000 demonstrators took to the streets. Additionally, unlike in Kananaskis in 2002 or Genoa in 2001, there are drones, which can be easily manipulated from afar.
“So that is a new and more complex threat to defend against,” said Kirton.
He described the threat environment for the 2025 summit as “more diffuse.” In Italy in 2001, for example, the fear was that al-Qaida would carry out an attack; in June 2001, Osama bin Laden told supporters of an intended attack on G8 leaders.
“That kind of threat is still on the playlist, but then you’ve got the new ones as well: wildfires and a great deal of anger against the president of the United States that you didn’t have at Kananaskis one,” said Kirton.
It remains to be seen if the specific tensions engendered by the attendees will lead to protest activities at designated zones in Calgary and Banff. The United States Secret Service, which came under heavy criticism in the U.S. after a failed assassination attempt against Trump while he was on the campaign trail last year, said it will continue to provide security for the president while he’s in Canada.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is the lead agency in security planning. But the Integrated Safety and Security Group (ISSG) managing G7 security also includes Calgary Police Service, Alberta Sheriffs, provincial conservation officers and members of the Canadian Armed Forces.
“The ISSG’s focus remains on providing a secure environment for the Summit, ensuring it unfolds safely and respectfully for all participants and host communities,” wrote Fraser Logan, a spokesperson for the RCMP, in an email to National Post.
Late last month, dozens of Canadian Armed Forces members streamed through outdoor retail outlets in Edmonton, stocking up on cold-weather gear and other necessities to keep them comfortable as they camp out in the bush for the duration of the summit. The Kananaskis region now resembles an armed camp,
, with soldiers camped out and helicopters flying overhead.
During the summit, police and the military will be deployed on ATVs and in armoured vehicles. Drones will fly overhead. There are airspace restrictions in effect and military jets could shoot down any planes that persistently violate the 30-nautical-mile no fly zone around Kananaskis.
RCMP Chief Supt. David Hall, the ISSG security director, said hosting the G7 is a hugely complex project and is the “largest domestic security operation” possible for any host nation. Kananaskis Village itself will be sealed off by metal fencing and cameras are mounted on poles around the hotel where delegates are staying, the Calgary Herald reported.
The trailheads, campgrounds and parking lots are packed with military vehicles and personnel, the Herald reported, and one group was hiking through the area to get to know the terrain. The Nakiska ski area, built for the 1988 Olympic Games, is being used as the staging area for security.
In 2002, 5,000 soldiers and 1,500 police were deployed, though the ISSG refused to discuss deployments for 2025.
“We don’t confirm numbers, the breakdown or the origin of deployment of our security personnel,” wrote Logan.
Throughout the region, including Calgary, the security procedures necessary to host such high-level dignitaries will be visible. Last month, Calgarians wondered at police moving through town. It turned out that it was members of the Calgary Police Service’s traffic section practicing their motorcade-escort skills in advance of the arrival of G7 delegates. The summit has also led to numerous road closures — and not just in the immediate area of the summit — but also around the Calgary International Airport, the closest airport to the Kananaskis region.
In the region itself, a 20-kilometre stretch of Highway 40 will be closed, cutting off access to many hikes and easy access to a favoured spring cycling route. However, travellers can take the Smith Dorrien Trail — a battered-but-scenic gravel backroad — from Canmore to access the southerly portions of Highway 40. The telephone line to reach Alberta Parks for information includes details on cancellations, suggesting that tourists with trips planned to the region should adjust their plans due to G7-related closures.
Within the security zone, only accredited personnel, including journalists, and residents of Kananaskis Village, will be permitted to enter.
“The general public is asked to try their best to stay away from these areas as wait times are expected to cause delays in travel,” the RCMP said in a statement Wednesday.
National Post, with additional reporting by the Calgary Herald
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