Greeter Beatrice Milner introduced:

• Steven Graham

• Paul Wesley

• Steve Miles Incoming Member

New Member

John Hoopfer introduced Steve Miles who has a wife, Debbie, three daughters and one son.  They also have a grandchild on the way.  Welcome Steve.  John Hoopfer will be Steve's mentor.

Sergeant At Arms

Mrs. Kelvin Nelson as SAA, fined one of last Saturday's bridge players for conduct unbecoming.  Rumours abound of the police being called to break up the games, and Jamie left her knife behind in the hurry to leave the scene.  We all thought Jamie was such a quiet person!!

Judy Cassidy was fined in absentia for forgetting to collect her bridge winnings before fleeing the scene.  Steve Shrout took the hit for the LeftWing Herald's published slamming of the Federal Liberals.  Wayne paid Steve's fine, because he thinks the new view is a vast improvement.  President Frank was fined for calling Mrs. Nelson, Mrs. VanMill, then promptly dug himself in deeper by trying to defend himself.  Hey, Franko, a man who acts as his own lawyer has a fool for a client.

Auction Time

Elisabeth conducted her first-ever auction, selling a yellow medicine hat to Dale Merchant for a paltry $10.00.  The Rotarian with the right number in their hat will be fully reimbursed for the District Convention costs.  Keep it under your hat, Dale.

Umbrella Bucks

Kendall paid $10 for shamelessly promoting Global and never mentioning that Izzy retired, leaving Kendall one rung closer to the top.

Travel Queen Tania paid to be happy about her recent tour, but she only paid one loonie so we cannot mention her company's name.  Liz Rossnagel is happy that this is literacy week.  She invites all Rotarians to a bedtime story at 7:00 tonight, and kids' bingo at 2:30 Saturday.  Newer Rotarian Richard Hebert is happy to have attended the Sunday Bridal Show which gets his son one step closer to the door, or is that one step closer to bringing home another mouth to feed?

Guest Speaker

Doug MacArthur fought his natural shyness to speak from the podium.  He introduced our own Lloyd Hickman, RCMP Superintendent who started his career postings in Saskatchewan.  His talk centered on his last assignment in charge of the Kananaskis G8 summit security.

Lloyd tells us this was the largest security operation in Canada, ever.  The original summit was planned for Ottawa, but was moved to Kananaskis on August 3, 2001, just previous to 9-11.  A recent summit in Italy had turned into violence and property damage and one demonstrator was shot to death.  Here was a challenge to make a different kind of a summit, not just a summit in a different way.

There were two sites in Calgary where protestors would encounter police as well as security concerns, as heads of state arrived and departed the Calgary International Airport and the remote Kananaskis site of the summit.  They looked at mistakes made in APEC confrontations and the massive damage done in Seattle. 

Especially after 9-ll there was tremendous concern for the 15 heads of state assembled in one location and the potential for it to become a terrorist target.  Public order must be maintained and security established while being cognizant of forest-fire potential in Kananaskis. 

Lloyd looked to Justice Hughes' review of the APEC disaster, and said all his criticisms were correct.  One of the problems was the separation of operations and planning with no accountability.  Police were not trained for violence at APEC.  The Charter creates obligations for legitimate demonstration.  In this event, it was determined that the RCMP would not answer to government over law enforcement issues as had been the mistake at APEC. 

Lethbridge chief prosecutor Robin Dan did an outstanding job through the Department of Justice for the RCMP in dealing with the legal wranglings. Prior court rulings had to be established as to whether there was conflict in the Charter of Rights versus Security plans.  Each issue resulted in a 1000 page brief to be presented to the courts.

Government Relations

Six levels of government including the Department of National Defense worked together for five months through planning and carrying out the operation.  The press estimates there were 5000 RCMP and 6-7000 military people involved. 

Unique Features. 

Kananaskis is a remote area with virtually no radio communication.  A $20 million dollar system was installed to provide hundreds of secure transmission bands.  Two airport hangers were leased which increased rental costs to $6 million.  They rented 1500 vehicles, and created a camp at Kananaskis for 2000 people.  Two hundred people mainly from Ontario and Quebec were put up in motels for six months as they worked on the project.

Security

Air Security was provided in an area from Nevada to Alaska.  Every square foot of the secure Kananaskis zone was photographed and digitized so it could be called up on computer screens.  Anti-sniper posts had to be set up to combat the possibility of snipers armed with 50-caliber Barret rifles capable of picking off a man from  2.3 km.

Previous demonstration sites suffered poor planning because tactical staff were housed outside the area and had to battle their way past demonstrators to provide relief.  This time, members were all housed within the perimeter at Kananaskis.

Constant, total, air cover was provided by six F18s 24/7 during the summit which meant a total of 30 planes were available for the duration.  There were also five AWAC (radar) planes and five mid-air refuelers on duty. Unmanned drones flew overhead, and ground-to-air missiles were positioned around the secure area and armed helicopters used for low level security.  Canadian JTF forces were in attendance.

Four levels of security were established around Kananaskis.  The Red-red zone was reserved for summit participants and off-limits to police or military. It was swept for explosives and listening devices before-hand.  Surveillance cameras monitored the area during the summit. The Red zone extended for one mile around the red-red zone with a no-intrusion fence erected at the perimeter.  A Blue, 6.5 km, no-go range was manned by 6000 security officers in the bush. And the entire area which is served by one road in and out had 26 manned barricades.  All summit VIPs were helicoptered in from the airport.  Five choppers flew in a group, constantly changing positions as they traveled.

Nobody Crashed the Party

Lloyd says they were ready to deal with 500 arrests per hour, but only two people were arrested.  There was no tear gas or pepper spray used, no environmental damage done, and not even one window broken.  Summit delegates were delighted and positive in their accolades over the handling of security.

Environmental Concerns

Temporary housing had to be provided without cutting even one tree.  Kitchen facilities were provided to feed 500 people an hour.  Environmentally friendly tear gas (isn't that an oxymoron?) was developed so that it would not get into the waterways.  An RCMP member from Newfoundland with a Masters' degree in environmental science was brought in.  No tracked vehicles were allowed in the park.

Community Relations

A traveling road show went from Halifax to Vancouver to meet with protestors six months before the event.  Internal and external bulletins were generated.  The Internet site received over 731,000 hits and the Intranet had 56,000 hits. A 1-800 number was provided for family members to make contact with people working on the site.  Protestors knew they would never get near the summit delegates.

Philosophy of Demonstrators

Lloyd says demonstrations have become violent when police suit-up in riot gear.  So, soft-hatted officers were assigned to walk with demonstrators.  Police officers used bicycles for patrol.  The bikes could be used as movable barricades and bike helmets are viewed as everyday wear.  As one demonstrator said, "How can you get mad at a Mountie wearing Spandex?"  Zones of security were set up that did not unjustifiably violate the rights of individuals to demonstrate. 

The Future

Lloyd says that the G8 summit has changed future summits in many positive ways.  As for the total c osts?  Bean counters are still adding up the bills.

Frank presented Lloyd with a Polio Plus certificate in thanks for a fantastic presentation.

And the Winners are:

Kevin Willoughby for $10, and Helen Henderson who immediately ordered a round for everyone.

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