As the world’s most powerful leaders prepare to descend on Kananaskis, Alta., for this year’s G7 summit, a famous Calgary welcome tradition may not take place this time.
There are no current plans for a white hat ceremony as dignitaries arrive in the Calgary region for the summit, according to Tourism Calgary and the mayor’s office.
“Given the complexity around security and the event, at this time, there are no plans for our team to conduct a white hat ceremony for G7,” Lorèn Lailey, a spokesperson with Tourism Calgary, said in an email.
Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek is still open to the idea but her office has not been able to confirm any role for the mayor in handing out white hats.
“Our office, along with city organizers, have been in contact with the summit management office regarding the mayor’s possibility of white hatting but we are still waiting to hear back,” Sophie Stone, a communications assistant in the mayor’s office, said in an email.
Alberta’s ministry of tourism and sport also said it’s not planning a ceremony for the G7, and referred CBC News to federal organizers. Federal organizers with the G7 didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Lailey, with Tourism Calgary, said the organization has not been asked to issue white hats for the event, but couldn’t speak for other organizations around the city.
Intended to serve as symbol of hospitality
In 2002, the last time the region hosted the summit, then-Calgary mayor Dave Bronconnier and other officials greeted G8 leaders on the Calgary airport tarmac, handing each of them a white Smithbilt cowboy hat.
The hat has long been presented to visitors, intended to serve as a symbol of the city’s hospitality.
At the time of the last summit, some leaders embraced the gesture, including former U.S. president George W. Bush, who pulled his hat low and shouted “Yeah!”, according to Calgary Herald reporting at the time.
Others, like former French president Jacques Chirac and former British prime minister Tony Blair, chose not to don the hat, or passed them off to aides.
The white cowboy hat dates back to the late 1940s. In the 1950s, Calgary’s mayor Don MacKay started the tradition of presenting white hats to visiting dignitaries.
Since then, the hats have been given to everyone from Pope John Paul II to Oprah Winfrey to Bob Dylan.
‘Largest domestic security operation’
The summit, set to run from June 15 to 17 in Kananaskis, is being referred to by security officials as “the largest domestic security operation” a country can take on. Thousands of delegates, journalists, and security personnel will be spread across Calgary and the surrounding region.
Security officials have specifically highlighted new technology at play, with the biggest concern being the advent of unmanned aerial vehicles, also known as drones. Officials have said they will deploy a counter-drone team in Kananaskis, but haven’t laid out specific measures those teams will take.
WATCH | RCMP and Calgary police outline security plans for G7 summit:
The police services, in partnership with provincial sheriffs and the military, are responsible for security during the G7 leaders’ summit in Kananaskis later this month.
Gary Mar, a former Alberta cabinet minister who attended the 2002 ceremony, recalled Junichiro Koizumi, the Japanese prime minister at the time, marvelling at the blue skies as he donned his white hat.
“He said ‘beautiful place’ and he proudly wore the hat. And he was quite tickled by it. And of course, president Bush was very familiar with cowboy hats, and he was delighted to receive one,” Mar said.
Mar said even if the ceremony doesn’t go ahead, he’s confident Calgary and the region will show its hospitality in other ways.
“The white hat ceremony is a great tradition, but not an essential one … there will be some expressions of great hospitality,” he said.
Leaders from the United States, France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, Italy and Canada, as well as the European Union, will attend this year’s summit.
