2010-06-19
By Linda Nguye
The small Ontario cottage town of Huntsville and Canada’s largest city usually have little in common, but in a few days, both will be thrust into the international spotlight as world leaders arrive for the G8/G20 Summits.
The three-day meetings, which run from June 25-26 in Huntsville and June 26-27 in Toronto, are billed as the largest security event ever in the country’s history.
According to the federal government, security costs, alone, will near $1 billion.
Much of that money is going toward paying for the thousands of uniformed police officers and 1,100 private guards who will be used to protect the dignitaries and their entourages.
It’s been expected that as many as 15,000 people, including international journalists, will be here for the meetings.
In downtown Toronto, just steps away from the Metro Convention Centre, crews can be seen putting the finishing touches on security measures ahead of the weekend summit.
A $5.5-million, three-metre high metal-linked fence that will encompass the summit site, is about two-thirds complete. It will cover a three-kilometre radius, right in the middle of the downtown core.
A handful of condo buildings, along with numerous businesses and city landmarks such as the CN Tower and the Rogers Centre are all nearby. Police have also started 24-hour patrols in the area.
Local resident Tarek Elrefaie said the chaos surrounding the G20 will be too much for his family.
The 36-year-old, his pregnant wife and their two boys, aged 2 and 4, made plans weeks ago to leave town when G20 leaders, — such as U.S. President Barack Obama, Chinese President Hu Jintao and Saudia Arabia King Abdullah I — arrive.
“We started hearing about the road and highway closures, the crowds, and all the scrutiny residents will face and thought it would just be easier for us to go away,” he said.
The family was initially going to Belleville, Ont., to stay with in-laws for the week, and even made backup plans to overnight with friends in Oakville, a suburb of Toronto. He said now, they’ve decided to book a last-minute trip to Cuba.
Security officials have warned people who live and work in or near the summit zone to be prepared to show identification when asked.
There will also be long lineups to get in and out of the fenced area during the summit, while the immediate area surrounding the convention centre will be closed to pedestrians and vehicles.
Some of the 400-series highways in the area will be subject to rolling closures as the leaders make their way downtown from Pearson International Airport in Mississauga, Ont.
Watching Toronto turn into a fortress was also enough to get Harm Atwal thinking about where she could go to get away.
“It’s like I’ve been living in a cage for the past month,” said the 30-year-old business consultant who will be home in Calgary for the week. “It’s going to be so nice to get out of here.”
Her office, which is also downtown, will be closed for most of the week. Her boss has also asked employees to telecommute or take vacation days if they can.
The majority of banks, large corporations and businesses located in Toronto’s downtown financial district have also announced that they will be closed during the summit. The Art Gallery of Ontario and the University of Toronto will also be closed, while all plays by Mirvish Productions have been cancelled during the weekend.
Garbage bins, newspaper boxes, bus shelters and trees, have been uprooted in Toronto for security reasons.
The U.S. State Department has issued an alert warning Americans to avoid travel to Toronto and Huntsville during the week of the summits due to the possibility of violent protests.
Meanwhile, two and a half hours north of Toronto in Huntsville, residents there are starting to feel a little tired from all the G8 preparations.
An eight-kilometre fence has been erected in the usually quiet, serene vacation spot in Ontario’s Muskoka district.
The chain-link fence splices through forests of tall pines, across highways, through a golf course and around water surrounding the Deerhurst Resort.
The G8 leaders will be staying at the 767-acre century-old resort, while the day-and-a-half of meetings will be held at the newly built Canada Summit Centre.
Hundreds of soldiers from the Canadian Forces, and officers from the Ontario Provincial Police, have already arrived in Huntsville. Their job will be to monitor the area around the summit zone, which includes the perfectly manicured resort grounds and surrounding dense forest.
There will also be a 24/7 police presence along Main Street in Huntsville and people who live within the summit zone have been told that they will be escorted to and from their homes.
The Integrated Security Unit, made up of officers from the Ontario Provincial Police, RCMP, Toronto Police and Peel Regional Police, said it is prepared for the worst-case scenario, but is hoping for the best.
“Our ultimate goal is to preserve and protect people’s lives. We have to prepare for any eventuality,” said Const. Wendy Drummond, an ISU spokeswoman. “But, essentially, we are hoping that the summit will be peaceful, no one is injured and no property damage occurs.”
At both sites, officials have warned they will be equipped with a number of weapons if protesters become unruly.
These include rubber bullets, tear gas and police dogs. More controversially are the police’s use of four long-range acoustic devices (LRADs), which have the capacity to emit a piercing frequency of up to 140 decibels. The commonly accepted pain threshold is between 110 to 120 decibels.
The Integrated Security Unit maintains the LRADs will only be used as a megaphone, and not a weapon. The machine has the ability to broadcast messages in up to 50 languages.