Police forces gear up to protect 3,400 people in Alberta wilderness at June G7 summit

Police forces say they are gearing up to find a way to keep more than 3,400 people safe alongside the Rocky Mountains during this summer’s G7 Summit in Kananaskis, Alberta.

A report to the Calgary Police Commission says police expect about 70 official guests, 2,000 delegates and 1,400 journalists will be in the area between Calgary and Kananaskis for the summit.

“It is a large security event, and I would hazard to say it’s probably the largest security event since the last time we hosted a summit of this size (in 2002),” Calgary Police Service Supt. Joe Brar said at a news conference Wednesday.

The G7 is slated for June 15 to 17, bringing together leaders from Canada, the United States, France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom and Italy, as well as the European Union.

Police forces from across Canada will support security efforts, including authorities from Edmonton, Winnipeg and Vancouver.

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A large swath of Kananaskis Country, including trails and day-use areas, will be shut down for the event.

The RCMP says teams will be on the alert for modern security threats such as drones, along with the fact one of the leaders — U.S. President Donald Trump — recently faced two assassination threats.

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Several areas of Kananaskis will be off limits during G7 summit

The summit will be unique due to its location in the Rocky Mountains, surrounded by forest, rivers and mountains. RCMP Chief Supt. David Hall said officers plan to patrol the area but declined to share specifics on how the region will be secured.

The restricted area will also be a no-fly zone. Details around whether airspace restrictions will apply to commercial airlines are still being worked out, Hill said.

Police will implement a 30 nautical-mile no-fly-zone around Kananaskis during the event and there will be temporary restrictions around Calgary International Airport at the same time, he added.

“If there’s drone activity that is a concern to the safety and security of the summit, we do have measures that we’ll implement, but again, those are things that we’ll keep to ourselves,” Hill said.

Countries’ security agencies will share information around potential threats at what Hill called an “international cooperation centre.”

The security costs will be made public after the end of the summit.

Kananaskis last played host to the summit in 2002, less than a year after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the U.S.

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