Activists outside Alberta are calling for an end to "summit hopping," urging their comrades to shun the G-8 summit in Kananaskis and instead hold protests in their home communities.
Thousands of protesters are expected to take to the streets of Ottawa, Vancouver, and possibly Halifax and Toronto for simultaneous anti-G-8 rallies during the June 26-27 summit.
The activists say holding protests across Canada during the G-8 will net more publicity for the anti-globalization movement while reducing the likelihood of violence.
"I don't think it makes sense to just be going from one big protest to another," says Dan Sawyer, an Ottawa activist who is organizing the Take the Capital rally at Parliament Hill. "Why not stay in our own community, in our own region, and build energy (against the G-8)?"
Policing simultaneous rallies will undoubtedly cause a strain on security forces across Canada. RCMP Chief Supt. Lloyd Hickman says he's confident RCMP and the various city police forces will be up to the job. "A large number of police officers across Canada will be involved in the G-8, whether it's in Halifax or here (Calgary) or in Whistler," Hickman says. "There will be enough personnel on the ground to meet our goals and mission."
With the G-8 summit less than a month away, it's questionable whether large numbers of activists will make the arduous and costly trip to Kananaskis.
Prime Minister Jean Chretien chose Kananaskis Village, the mountain resort about 120 kilometres west of Calgary, in an effort to avoid the mass protests of recent world summits.
At last year's G-8 in Genoa, Italy, vicious street battles between police and about 200,000 protesters left 200 activists injured and resulted in the shooting death of a young anarchist.
Authorities are bracing for the arrival of thousands of protesters in Calgary and the Kananaskis region, but no one seems able to peg exactly how big the crowds will be.
Sawyer says many activists in Eastern Canada see little point in spending thousands of dollars to travel to Kananaskis, especially given the high level of security expected for the event.
"Security is going to be monstrous," Sawyer says. "I'm not convinced the best way for me to get my message across is to get taken down by a couple of army officers in the middle of the bush."
The summit is being billed as the "largest peacetime security operation in Canadian history," with about 1,500 RCMP officers and about 5,000 Canadian soldiers expected to protect G-8 leaders and delegates.
Calgary activists say they are expecting between 5,000 and 15,000 protesters, even though some local activists are also "encouraging" their comrades to stay home during the summit.
"We're actually encouraging people to do protests in their own community," says Gordon Christie, spokesman for the Calgary District Labour Council.
"If they want to come, bonus.
"(But) we don't want all of Canada and North America trucked here -- that's not our goal."
RCMP Corp. Jamie Johnston, a G-8 security spokesman, says activists have a better chance of having their messages heard if they stay home.
"They stand a better chance of getting their message out, without it getting lost in a fog of violence," Johnston said.
Ottawa police Insp. Pat Hayes says protesters are welcome to hold demonstrations in his city, as long as they're peaceful.
"We know large crowds are coming to Ottawa because they can't get to Kananaskis," Hayes says. "OK, that's fair, but please treat our city with respect."
Most major organized activist groups are still expected to have some kind of presence in Calgary.
Natalie Southworth, a spokeswoman for Greenpeace in Vancouver, says it's crucial for activists to bear witness at summit events, to send the message to G-8 leaders that the world is watching them.
That's why holding summits in isolated areas is unfair and undemocratic, says Southworth.
"They are holding these summits in places that are increasingly hard to get to," she says. "If people can't go and represent their communities that are being impacted, then that's an important voice that's being left out."
Rob Huebert, a political scientist with the University of Calgary's Centre for Military and Strategic Studies, says most activists don't want confrontation and that violence, when it occurs, is usually sparked by a small minority of anarchists and radicals.
He predicts the Kananaskis summit will be relatively violence free, but also warns "there is a certain cadre of radical protesters) that will hop around from conference to conference . . . so they will show up regardless."
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