Grizzlies, Guns and the G8 Summit

June 26, 2002 -- It was once called the best kept secret of the magnificent Alberta Rockies, a region blessed with majestic evergreens on snowcapped mountains dotted with sapphire lakes, hot springs and situated gloriously far from the maddening crowds.

But today, the Kananaskis natural reserve in western Canada is playing host to a high-profile gathering of the leaders of some of the world's most powerful countries as they get together for the 2002 G8 summit.

Of the protesters, demonstrators and sundry activists who these days routinely congregate alongside police barricades at international gatherings, there will be precious few.

A year after the 2001 G8 summit in Genoa, Italy saw violent clashes between protesters and police resulting in the death of one demonstrator, delegates at this year's summit are more likely to see grizzly bears than anti-globalization anarchists.

And that's just how the organizers of the 2002 G8 summit want it, although they couch it in more diplomatic terms.

"What we really want to do here is get back to basics with a retreat-style meeting," Michael O'Shaughnessy, spokesman for G-8 summit organizers, told reporters last week, citing the relative informality of the first G8 meeting in Rambouillet, France, in 1975.

Activists Bemoan Remote Venue

But activists and rights groups are not thrilled with the G8's return to nature.

For one, the summit is being held in a protected natural reserve, making it especially difficult for environmental rights activists and many demonstrators who, while rallying for and against different causes, generally consider environmental issues a part of their agendas. Past international meetings have, in some cases, involved violent rampages by protesters which has left a trail of destruction.

"We decided not to organize events at the venue of the summit because it's a sensitive environment, a natural park," says Melissa Scaman, a spokeswoman for G8 ACT (Action Coordinating Team), an umbrella group coordinating various rights organizations.

"But it's an example of how secretive the proceedings of these meetings are and it demonstrates the extent to which the organizers are willing to go to avoid having to confront those who question corporate globalization and the domination of multinational corporations in the world," she said.

Massive Security Tab

Certainly the Canadian government has spared no expense in providing for the security of President Bush, Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Jacques Chirac, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and, of course, Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien.

And as the world is periodically put through the chills of terror attacks and dirty bomb scares, the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) and local police are taking no chances.

"September 11 has clearly raised the bar with regards to international security," says Corporal James Johnston, an RCMP spokesman. "The top priority of the G8 security team is to ensure a safe and secure summit for everyone, including local residents, delegates and heads of states. We have a no-fly zone around a radius of 80 nautical miles around the meeting site and we have registered the assistance of the Canadian military to protect the airspace over Kananaskis."

Although Johnston declined to provide an estimate of the security costs, Canadian media reports have put the bill at an estimated $250 million.

And this, they say, does not include the costs of transporting supplies to the idyllic summit venue or a uniquely Canadian program to keep the region's grizzly population safe and far away from the site by tagging them with radio collars.

It can be argued that it will be easier for a resident grizzly to get a first hand view of the goings-on at Kananaskis than for an average protester trying to rile the delegates at the summit.

Security forces will be patrolling and camping out in the Kananaskis woods, sealing off a 4-mile security zone surrounding the meeting site and the nearest airport, which is about an hour's drive away, can only be reached on a lone road cutting through the pristine natural reserve.

An Alternate Summit

In the absence of being allowed near the summit, rights groups are organizing what they call an alternate summit, titled G6B — after what they say are the world's 6 billion "voiceless" population — in the nearest city of Calgary.

Meetings, concerts, demonstrations and sit-ins will be centered around the University of Calgary campus, says Scaman.

But even in Calgary, demonstrators aren't exactly being greeted with a welcome wagon. Local media outlets in recent days have featured reports of the Stoney Indians not allowing protesters to camp on their lands.

But there's one Calgary institution ready for the activists — the local prison. City officials say the prison has been "emptied" for the duration to accommodate 400 people in cells in the event that the protests get out of hand.