BANFF/KANANASKIS — The Mounties guarding a roadblock on Highway 40 weren’t in the mood for small talk.

“I apologize that I can’t smile for your photo,” said one officer in a Quebecois accent Sunday morning.

All around him were sun-dappled crags while a spring gurgled peacefully out of a forest nearby.

The member of a Japanese TV news crew who had driven up to record the scene remarked on the stunning scenery.

But there was no doubting the seriousness with which the officers took their task. Nobody without special accreditation is allowed to venture past this point.

Concrete blocks had formed a choke point adjacent to the Baldy Pass hiking turnout, about five kilometres north of the main roadblock at Mt. Lorette Ponds.

Any intruder blasting through this preliminary checkpoint would no doubt be intercepted at the more heavily fortified barrier down the road, the main highway shield for G7 leaders and their guests meeting at Kananaskis Village.

Alberta Parks staff at the Barrier Lake information centre nearby said sightseer traffic was down considerably, replaced by security convoys that included Canadian Armed Forces light armoured vehicles.

A few mountain ranges to the northwest in Banff, it’s a very different vibe.

The only noticeable security on Sunday was RCMP personnel guarding the International Media Centre located at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity.

There, smiling Mounties navigated golf carts within view of the stately Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel below.

Others checked accreditation carried by some of the 1,400 journalists converging on Banff to chronicle the annual event, running from June 15-17, that has attracted 2,000 diplomatic personnel.

Down in the town, nearly 3,000 participants completed the Banff Half Marathon like they would in any other, while the mountain resort’s streets teemed with foot and vehicular traffic.

It was hard to tell the G7 in Kananaskis had spilled over into Banff, where on its main street, a Mountie could be seen fraternizing with visitors, more of a tourist attraction than anything.

“People are not aware of it,” said Town of Banff spokesman Jason Darrah, who was bicycling around town offering directions to visitors.

“Most people come here for a once-in-a-lifetime trip planned months in advance (and don’t care).”

Designated protest zone in Banff

He said town officials had initially suggested a designated protest zone in Banff be located at the Banff Centre where journalists are based, so they could be seen by the world’s news media.

But memories of the 2001 G8 in Genoa, Italy, where anti-globalist protesters gathered near a media hub were violently attacked by police, led to second thoughts.

And after an RCMP bid to have the demonstration zone placed in Banff’s Central Park was rebuffed, it was decided to locate it in the parking lot of the Fenlands Banff Recreation Centre.

Darrah said he understands that G7 organizers wanted the media hub in Banff to provide them a taste of scenery similar to that savoured by world leaders in Kananaskis but added the town “didn’t ask for it.”

At the Fenlands Centre, which is expected to be the scene of protests by environmental activists on Monday and Tuesday, a perimeter fence hadn’t yet gone up.

On Sunday morning, a small group of people were installing what appeared to be a camera on a pole in the parking lot.

A black-suited official among them declined to comment on what they were doing. A couple of police officers were also seen near the centre, along with a surveillance van.

The iconic Banff letters entrance sign — so popular with photo-snapping visitors — had been temporarily removed from its pedestal near the Fenlands Centre to ward off unsafe congestion during the G7.

Fenlands maintenance worker David Perry lived in Banff in 2002 during the G8 summit and said security seemed more visible then.

“It was pretty intense, you had soldiers coming out of trees,” said Perry.

But he said the prospect of demonstrations at his workplace doesn’t bother him “as long as they don’t interfere with life,” he said.

“They have a right to protest but it’s not going to make a difference to anybody.”

Tourists continue to enjoy Banff, show support for Canada

Down on Bear Street, U.K. visitors Harry Turner and Angela Coulson were enjoying beers on an outdoor patio and expressing G7 skepticism of a different kind.

“You have G7 and nothing ever comes of it,” said Turner, who hails from northwestern England’s Lake District.

But Coulson said they’ll “hang around to see what people are going to say” at Monday’s demonstration.

“All eyes are going to be on Trump,” she added with disgust.

Her traveling companion Turner said they feel a kinship with Canada given their countries’ shared Commonwealth pedigree and had spent a few dollars to show it.

“I bought an ‘elbows up’ sticker for my suitcase,” he said, adding the couple hasn’t noticed any unusual security in the town.

On Banff Avenue, another U.K. couple said it’s impossible to notice any signs of G7 in Banff but said Canada should have secured its borders against U.S. President Donald Trump, who is expected to be a wild card in the G7 meetings at nearby Kananaskis.

“We strongly stand with Canada and against his 51st state nonsense,” said a middle-aged woman who chose not to give her name.

The couple said they live 30 km from a golf course owned by Trump in the area of Aberdeen, Scotland, which has only increased their dislike for the U.S. president.

And even though it isn’t affecting their travel plans in the Canadian Rockies, they voiced similar skepticism for the G7 summits.

“The summits are a total waste of time, we haven’t noticed anything coming out of them,” said the woman as throngs of tourists flowed past them.

-with files from Steven Wilhelm

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