G7 leaders will gather in Kananaskis from June 15 to 17, marking a half-century of international co-operation among some of the world’s most-advanced economies. Read More
G7 leaders will gather in Kananaskis from June 15 to 17, marking a half-century of international co-operation among some of the world’s most-advanced economies. Matters on the agenda will be divided into three major areas of discussion: Peace and security, foreign interference and transnational crime, and wildfire response; Critical mineral supply chains and economic growth
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G7 leaders will gather in Kananaskis from June 15 to 17, marking a half-century of international co-operation among some of the world’s most-advanced economies.
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Matters on the agenda will be divided into three major areas of discussion:
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- Peace and security, foreign interference and transnational crime, and wildfire response;
- Critical mineral supply chains and economic growth through artificial intelligence and quantum computing;
- Private investment for stronger infrastructure, creation of good-paying jobs, and business success through dynamic markets.
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Other topics up for discussion include the war in Ukraine and the creation of reliable global coalitions.
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Follow Postmedia Calgary for continuing coverage of the leaders’ summit, on site and in our communities, from the preparations until the final communiqué and beyond.
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NEED TO KNOW
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Monday
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Checkpoints blocking traffic on Highway 40 — at Mount Lorette Ponds to the north and the Galatea parking lot to the south — will mark the main boundaries to the zone, with the use of trails to the east and west prohibited as part of the massive security operation.
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“Access to this zone will be restricted to authorized personnel, residents and businesses,” said the RCMP, which is leading the security operation for the G7 summit. Leaders from Canada, the U.S., the U.K., Germany, Italy and France, Japan and the European Union will gather in Kananaskis Village.
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“The public is asked to try their best to stay away from these high security points.”
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Read on to learn more about these and other closures.
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— Stephen Tipper
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Monday
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Activists protesting the G7 gathering say they’ll assemble peacefully, but some doubt police will refrain from violently suppressing their right to demonstrate.
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An organizer with an alliance of 25 activist groups across the country that’s bringing some of its members to Calgary said they avoid provoking police backlash, but might not confine their activities to three designated protest zones being set up for them in Calgary — near the airport, at Municipal Plaza and in Victoria Park.
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“Depending on the security situation, we might do a march and we’ll see what the implications of leaving the designated zones are, but we don’t want to put public safety at risk,” said Yasmeen Khan, North American vice-chair of the International League of Peoples’ Struggle in Canada.
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“We should be able to bring a voice to the wider public but, at the same time, we don’t want to antagonize.”
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Police have said they have no legal mandate to confine protesters to the assigned zones, but add they won’t tolerate law-breaking outside them.
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— Bill Kaufmann
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Monday
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Delegates to the upcoming G7 will receive Calgary’s trademark white hat, but it’ll be done unceremoniously.
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Rising security concerns tied to a volatile geopolitical climate mean VIP visitors who arrive in Calgary en route to Kananaskis won’t be welcomed with the usual white hatter ceremony, Mayor Jyoti Gondek said Monday.
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“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,” she said.
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Delegates will be given a white Smithbilt hat minus the usual formal ceremony — along with a gift bag containing soap, chocolate, coffee, beef jerky and glassware that’s been subject to security protocols, she said.
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— Bill Kaufmann
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Earlier
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The G7 Summit running from June 15 to 17 brings together leaders from Canada, the U.S., the U.K., Japan, Germany, Italy, France, and the European Union while invited leaders such as Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy and India’s Narendra Modi have also said they’ll attend.
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Through a series of meetings, delegates will attempt to come to a consensus over policies regarding global peace and security, climate change, economic stability and the war in Ukraine.
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To protect them, what’s been dubbed the largest security operation in the world is being mobilized.
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To that end, nearly every parking lot, trailhead and campground in the Kananaskis exclusion zone is filled with Canadian troops or other security personnel. Olive green military trucks that are seemingly everywhere and their accompanying army tents blend well with the evergreen forest.
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Closer to Kananaskis Village, a light barricade has been thrown across the road to the Nakiska ski area, which is being used as a staging zone for security forces.
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Surveillance cameras mounted on metal poles now line forest pathways near the hotel.
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— Bill Kaufmann
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Who’s attending the G7 meeting in Kananaskis?
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Prime Minister Mark Carney will be joined in Kananaskis by:
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- U.S. President Donald Trump
- U.K. Prime Minister Kier Starmer
- French President Emmanuel Macron
- German Chancellor Friedrich Merz
- Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba
- Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni
- EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Council President António Costa
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Non-G7 leaders invited to the gathering include:
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- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy
- Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum
- Australian Prime Minister Antonio Albanese
- Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.S. President Donald Trump may meet on the sidelines of this month’s Group of Seven summit in Kananaskis, Zelenskyy’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak said on June 6.
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Yermak said a delegation he led on a visit to Washington this week worked on a potential meeting between the two leaders.
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“Our visit was preparation, among other things, for a meeting between Zelenskyy and Trump on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Canada,” Yermak said in a televised interview.
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Meanwhile, in a post on X also on June 6, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney invited him to the G7 summit and that he looks forward to their meeting.
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The development signals improving relations between the two nations, which have been frayed over the Modi government’s alleged involvement in homicides and extortion targeting Sikhs in Canada who advocate for carving out a separate homeland for followers of the faith.
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Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum told reporters on June 9 she will also attend the G7 summit in Kananaskis and that it’s “very likely” she will meet Trump there.
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Canada has invited Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to attend the Group of Seven summit, according to a person familiar with the matter, in another sign of a new approach to Canada’s foreign policy under Carney.
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MBS, as the de facto Saudi leader is known, was invited to last year’s G7 in Italy but wasn’t able to attend. It’s not yet clear whether he’ll join this year’s event.
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Canada and Saudi Arabia went through a long period of strained diplomatic ties after the government of Justin Trudeau criticized the kingdom’s treatment of human rights activists, which resulted in the expulsion of Canada’s ambassador in Riyadh in August 2018. That was only months before the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at a Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Canada and Saudi Arabia eventually restored diplomatic relations in 2023.
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— With files from Bloomberg News
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How is the G7 venue being kept safe?
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The RCMP-led team handling security for the upcoming G7 summit gave a glimpse of the equipment that will be on standby.
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A bear trap, motorcades, mobile command centres and multiple armoured vehicles were among the tools members of the Integrated Safety and Security Group had on display for media on June 2.
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Drones, mounted police, bicycles, motorcycles and ATVs were also shown in a parking lot at the Calgary Police Service headquarters.
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“Some of it is pretty specialized equipment that will allow us to make sure the event’s safe and secure for kind of everybody involved,” said RCMP Chief Supt. David Hall, ISSG security director, adding it is the “more visible” of the security measures in place.
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Meanwhile, pilots persistently breaching restricted airspace over the G7 Leaders’ Summit in Kananaskis could be shot down by military aircraft, an RCMP security official said.
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Aerial intruders who refuse to obey orders to turn back from restricted airspace radiating 30-nautical miles from the summit venue at Kananaskis Village could be brought down with force as a last resort, said Sgt. Mark Basanta, lead aerospace planner for the G7 summit.
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“Shooting is an extreme measure but yes, we have the capability of taking them down,” Basanta told a media conference at the Springbank Airport just west of the city.
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“They’ll be met, they’ll be intercepted, we do have (CF-)18s flying combat air patrol, we’ll have Griffons (military helicopters) support. Hopefully that’ll be a deterrent for them to turn around.”
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— Steven Wilhelm and Bill Kaufmann
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What did G7 finance ministers discuss in Banff?
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In what one expert describes as a strongly worded statement on May 22, G7 countries’ financial chiefs meeting in Banff pledged a united effort to step up their support for Ukraine in its war with Russia.
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They vowed to expand sanctions against Moscow if it doesn’t agree to a ceasefire, to freeze Russian financial assets held in the west and to push ahead with postwar reconstruction of Ukraine, while ensuring those who’ve supported Russia in the war don’t benefit from that spending.
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“The G7 remains committed to unwavering support for Ukraine in defending its territorial integrity and right to exist, and its freedom, sovereignty and independence toward a just and durable peace,” read a communique signed by Canada, the U.S., the U.K., Germany, France, Italy and Japan.
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It goes on to condemn Russia’s “brutal war” on Ukraine, which it praised as a resilient country.
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The meeting’s final communiqué made no mention of the long-running tension over tariffs, with U.S. President Donald Trump imposing levies on goods from his G7 allies and other countries.
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The finance chiefs found common ground addressing supply chain enhancements and tackling financial crime.
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“I always say that there’s no doubt the tariffs will always bring a level of tension among partners, but we were also able to find common ground,” federal Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne told reporters after the meetings.
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“There is no skating around the fact that tariffs are an issue that are always coming up at these meetings, because we’re trying to enhance growth and stability.”
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The seven countries will pursue “shared policy objectives” in the face of complex global challenges.
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The meeting also occurred as the world faced the potential threat of stagflation, with economists agree that a slowing global economic outlook is one of several challenges facing G7 finance ministers and central bank governors.
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— Bill Kaufmann and Chris Varcoe
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