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“Please allow me to show you my bus that I drive for G7,” said the pilot.
Willi Mair is making his way to the coach’s side, a Canadian Canadian manufacturing provost. It is marked by the name of the company, Sunshine Coach, and painted with three slices of sunset and golden yellow.
He sets up the entrance to the bus and leans in the driver’s area. The coach has all the amenities, notes Mair – he can lower the forehead so that the elderly can on board. He has safety belts, for security. There is a bathroom on the back.
“And that is, of course … air conditioned,” he concludes, proudly.
Barely a few days ago, Mair’s bus was full of RCMP officers, heading for the G7 summit. They were not in uniform, but they came to transport heavy bags. Mair, who likes to help passengers to load their luggage, was surprised by their weight.
“I was afraid to remove the handle just raising,” he said.
But the officers were very nice. Casual.
“And go to work, I suppose.”
Tuesday was the first day a controlled access zone entered into force In the Kananaskis region, before the G7 summit, a gathering of leaders of seven of the world’s advanced economies. The summit brought a considerably increased police and military presence in this area.
Look | This is what the new Kananaskis G7 security perimeter looks like:
The RCMP has established a secure “controlled access zone” surrounding the village of Kananaskis before the G7 summit from June 15 to 17. Acton Clarkin and Joel Dryden of the CBC went to the border of the area to discover what is out of limits and learn more about the safety preparations for the final summit.
Now that the area has entered into force, MAIR only leads to managers of security and staff at Calgary International Airport until Stoney Nakoda Resort and Casino, just over 25 kilometers from the summit site.
White tents at the casino play vehicle screening and act as a passenger switching point. The vehicles detected are escorted in the controlled access zone. Other passengers are moved to pre-production buses.
“It’s a big hoopla, that’s for sure,” said Mair. “But it must be so.”
Police forces come to Alberta to support
The Bearspaw Kananaskis travel center is in the next Stoney Nakoda Resort and Casino car park. Ellaina Benjamin works the front counter.
Being located just outside the road that takes the delegates to the controlled access zone means that these employees see a lot – army helicopters, jets and police officers from all over the country.
“I find it a little fun, entertaining to see. It is something different, that’s for sure. I became curious yesterday and I asked where their jurisdictions came from,” said Benjamin.
The security of the event is directed by an integrated group which includes the RCMP, the Calgary police service, the Alberta sheriffs, the Alberta conservation agents and the Canadian Armed Forces, as well as other police services across the country, including Edmonton, Winnipeg and the Police Service of the Tsuut’ina country.
These forces are responsible for managing what officials have called “the greatest internal security operation” that a country can assume, with more advanced technological threats, including drones.
Other threats are that Albertans outdoors can be more familiar.
Some of them appear during a trip on the road to the controlled access zone. A panel on the side of the road advises motorists that the fire danger rating for Banff National Park is now classified as “extreme”. Almost a blockade near the summit site, a bear is seen slip into dense trees.
The officials said they were working to minimize wild human contact. In 2002, the last time the leaders ‘summit took place in Kananaskis, a bear was tranquilled and killed later after it was too close to the managers’ site.
Near the start of the Wasootch Ridge trail, police vehicles are agitating motorists, asking them to lower their windows. From there, accreditation is compulsory for anyone who wishes in the controlled access zone.
Some are anxious to return to natural spaces
The region will remain locked up until June 18. For the inhabitants who came to see Kananaskis as a retirement from daily life, the disturbance cannot end soon enough.
The area of use of the Galatea day, the Ponds du Mont Lorette and the Little Loudheed Trail are part of several leisure areas prohibited Until the summit ends.
“He closed all my favorite places,” said Nalyn Hill, who visits the Calgary region almost every weekend with his dog. “I like to take him to Mount Lorette Ponds, especially … Everything was blocked. So, it’s very frustrating.”
Although the leaders are located in the village of Kananaskis itself, the disturbance is not only felt in the Kananaskis region. Calgary, Banff and the surrounding region welcome media and support teams from around the world.
In Banff, international media will meet at the Banff Center for Arts and Creativity. The preparation was booming on Tuesday, with crews that check technology and the establishment of stations so that journalists broadcast their reports live.
Soon, the leaders will arrive in the village of Kananaskis, the International Media Center will be animated by activity, and the neighboring site of Fenlands Banff Recreation Center will be open to those looking to protest.
Janice Hagel, who paused in a bicycle ride outside the leisure center on Tuesday, said that she thought that security measures were needed given the event scale.
But she adds that she will closely monitor the summit results.
“I am interested in what they are talking about,” she said. “And not only that, but what they will act on.”
