France and the United States are hunting for future G-8 summit sites that will be even more isolated than Kananaskis, the Herald has learned.
Both nations are closely eyeing the Kananaskis summit to see if the remoteness of the location can break the cycle of violence that's marred recent summit meetings worldwide.
If it succeeds, representatives from both countries say the Kananaskis summit could become a blueprint for all future G-8 meetings.
"We can learn a lot from your experience (in Kananaskis)," said Anges Romatet-Espagne, press attache for the French Embassy in Ottawa. "If it's a good experience, we will try to imitate it in France. We have to find a place that's reclusive. We want to have real discussions that are not hijacked by protesters."
France is hosting next year's G-8 and the U. S. will host the summit in 2004.
Romatet-Espagne said Kananaskis Village -- a block of resort hotels nestled in the Rocky Mountains about 120 kilometres west of Calgary -- is a perfect site for the G-8.
She added that French President Jacques Chirac would have been happy to see this year's G-8 summit held in an even more remote area of Canada than Kananaskis.
"Jacques Chirac told (Jean Chretien) . . . you should have chosen Iqaluit," Romatet-Espagne said, referring to the remote Nunavut city in northern Canada.
Prime Minister Jean Chretien chose Kananaskis for the June 26 and 27 summit in an attempt to end street fights and confrontations that have erupted at recent summits.
The choice was made in the wake of violent riots at last year's G-8 summit in Genoa, where almost 200,000 activists, anarchists and radicals battled with Italian police, culminating in the shooting death of a 23-year-old protester.
Protesters have condemned the decision to move the summit to Kananaskis as undemocratic and exclusionary.
"It's cowardice," says Dustin Washington, a Seattle protester. "If they think the movement is going away (because of the isolation of summit meetings), they're fooling themselves."
Stephen Kelly, the U.S. deputy chief of mission to Canada, said American officials are also seeking an isolated location for when they host the summit in 2004.
"If you guys manage to pull this one off, it will become the model for the future," Kelly said.
"We are all watching to see how this works. Maybe it will get us away from some of the problems in summits past."
Romatet-Espagne said it's important for society's voice to be heard by the G-8 leaders of the industrialized world.
However, she quickly added that nothing is gained by "useless, painful and dangerous confrontations" between police and protesters.
"Demonstrating for demonstration's sake is not helpful," she said.
Chretien's plan of using the remote Kananaskis site to defuse protest so far seems to be working.
Many activists in Eastern Canada say they will not be coming to Kananaskis, and instead will protest on Parliament Hill in Ottawa during the event.
Local activists, who had hoped to set up camp just outside Kananaskis at a "Solidarity Village," so far have been unable to secure land anywhere near the summit site.
If protests do occur, it's likely they will take place in Calgary, far away from the G-8 leaders.
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