They marched, shouted, waved flags and signs, and distributed brochures on issues deep inside them, hoping that the G7 leaders would notice.
Hundreds of protesters rally in downtown Calgary on Sunday, as leaders from around the world began attending the G7 summit at the Rock Hill resort of Alta Kananaskis, about an hour west of the city.
As the site of the summit is not closed to the public, organizers have established three “designated demonstration zones” in Calgary and one in Banff and promised that live videos of the protests will be played on the big screen in Kananaskis for participation to leaders.
Apart from some traffic disruptions, the protests on Sunday were basically peaceful.
A large number of Palestinian protesters marched through the center of Calgary, blocking traffic and forcing police to intervene to move again.
Calgary police
Carol and Mike Schmidt held a small flag while standing in front of Calgary City Hall in Calgary, one of Calgary’s protest areas – condemning Donald Trump’s desire to make Canada the 51st state.
“We will never be the 51st state. We are proud of Canadians, and it's a very loud message we want to give,” Carol Schmidt said.
“We are proud to live in a free democracy and we can come and use our voice today and it can be heard like this.”
Lesley Boyer responded to the comments, who described the protest as “a once in a lifetime opportunity to put himself to the right of history.”
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“Boy of my grandfathers were fighting fascists and I was very upset about the comments from the 51st state,” Boye said. “I was so scared that he might actually try something, so this is the way I said it in the Canadian way. We are not interested in being your 51st state. Leaving Trump, we don't want you here.”
Many people gathered at Calgary City Hall on Sunday want to send a message to U.S. President Donald Trump, which Canadians don’t want to be the 51st state.
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Environmental and indigenous rights are also the focus of many protesters.
“Water is life, and water is very important. Without water, we wouldn't be here,” said Josie Augr of Bigstone Cree First Nation.
“Our planet is made of water, our bodies are made of water – without water, we will no longer be human beings – the water of the world is with the scarcity of drought and climate change that we have experienced, which makes us even more unstable, making us think about the needs of our children, our grandchildren, our great grandfather, our great grandfather, our great great great grandfather, and our grandfather.
“There is basically no climate change on the agenda,” said Jared Blustein, executive director of the Calgary Climate Talk. “You know it’s nominal, but I don’t think leaders will take meaningful action on climate change.”
“We are experiencing more and more climate change impacts, more severe storms, more severe hot domes – our world is changing and we need to take a collective stance to make sure we don't destroy our world for the people in the future and for us today.”
Although the protests were largely peaceful, apart from some traffic disruptions, security personnel were nervous and the officers at hand saw photos of the attendees.
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With global affairs such as wars in Ukraine and the Middle East expected to highlight their features in the discussions of G7 leaders, several larger protest groups are joining the debate at hand.
They included a pro-Palestinian march around the heart of Calgary, forcing police to closely monitor protesters to intervene so traffic can be restored.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Mod was also invited by Prime Minister Mark Carney, a group of people calling for independence from Kashmir (the focus of a new type of military conflict between India and Pakistan), also gathered in front of Calgary City Hall.
“We need the right to self-determination, whether we are going to India or Pakistan and stay independent,” Asif Nazir said.
Among the groups gathered in front of Calgary City Hall, there was a large number of people calling for an independent state in Kashmir.
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Some protesters, such as members of the Revolutionary Communist Party, have little hope that the G7 summit will accomplish any meaning.
“We think these G7 world leaders are leading the world into crisis. We have the cost of living crisis, our environment degradation, the rise of tariff wars, the rising global wars, and they have no solution because their systems have no solution.”
“Capitalism is at its end. What we need is the working class to control the economy and run it democratically by our class and allocate resources for the needs, not the profits of a few billionaires. We are working to build a revolutionary party to lead this struggle.”
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