Jets, tanks and bears: The last time the G7 came to Alberta, it was in the shadow of 9/11

Canada's top security officials are ramping up planning in Kananaskis, just west of Calgary, for the 51st G7 leaders' summit in June, more than two decades after the region last held the high-profile international event.

Officials behind this year's summit are keeping specifics scant for now, with more detail to come. But as is the case with all G7 summits, the host site — in this case, a popular wilderness destination — is set to be locked down as part of a dramatic and sweeping security effort.

Beyond the extensive security measures, G7 events also carry significant financial costs. The last time Kananaskis hosted the summit, its price tag was estimated at $300 million. Canada last hosted the summit in La Malbaie, Que., in 2018, when it budgeted $600 million.

The return of the event to K-Country brings back memories of the last time it was held — a contentious summit with a ballooning budget, unprecedented security and calls for its cancellation.

The 2025 event will bring together leaders from the United States, France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, Italy and Canada, as well as the European Union, and take place from June 15 to 17.

The last time Kananaskis hosted, the conference was known as the G8 Summit. The name was changed after Russia was suspended and then withdrew following its annexation of Crimea in 2014.

In advance of the 2002 summit, then-prime minister Jean Chretien suggested the intimate, remote nature of Kananaskis made it an ideal location for the event, especially in light of massive protests at the 27th G8 summit in Genoa, Italy, the year prior, which drew an estimated 200,000 demonstrators. 

"We have the obligation to meet, and it is not a certain number of anarchists who will prevent democratic leaders to do their job," Chretien was quoted as saying by the Edmonton Journal in July 2001.

The 2002 summit also landed amid high anxiety tied to the terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C., on Sept. 11, 2001. In the days following those attacks, organizers said "profound" changes would be made to security planning, and a possible change in venue from Kananaskis.

Then-premier Ralph Klein floated the idea the summit may need to be cancelled should security concerns persist.

For Calgary officials, planning efforts began about a year in advance, though Global Affairs Canada, RCMP, CSIS and others were involved well before that, said Al Duerr, who was Calgary's mayor when Kananaskis was chosen as the summit site in July 2001. 

"Definitely, at that time, we had to plan for the worst case," Duerr said in an interview earlier this month. 

Duerr decided not to run again in the fall of 2001 after four terms in office, and was succeeded as mayor by Dave Bronconnier, who would go on to lead the region into the summit. But Duerr said there was extensive information shared in the lead-up to the event.

"Not only do you have issues with potential bad actors, but you have wildlife, and a whole series of things," he said. "I can't get into a lot of the stuff that was planned, but I was very impressed by the depth to which everyone went to ensure it went off as a very smooth event."