36th G8 summit

36th G8 summit
36th G8 summit official logo
Host country	Canada
Dates	June 25–26, 2010
Follows	35th G8 summit
Precedes	37th G8 summit

The 36th G8 summit was held in Huntsville, Ontario, Canada, on June 25–26, 2010. In this year's meeting, the G8 leaders agreed in reaffirming the group's essential and continuing role in international affairs and "assertions of new-found relevance." The form and function of the G8 was reevaluated as the G-20 summits evolved into the premier forum for discussing, planning and monitoring international economic cooperation.

This was the fifth G8 Summit hosted by Canada since 1976, the previous four being at Montebello, Quebec (1981); Toronto, Ontario (1988); Halifax, Nova Scotia (1995); and Kananaskis, Alberta (2002). The Canadian government picked Huntsville, a small town of 20,000, to host the annual summit and core meetings. Meetings took place at the Deerhurst Resort. Facilities were built to ensure security and to handle the expected influx of media, protesters and others. Muskoka was deemed too small, and a Toronto venue for the G-20 summit was adopted.

The late scheduling of a G20 summit in Toronto affected the G8 weekend in unanticipated ways. The meeting came to be framed in the press as a preliminary meeting. The theme for this summit was "Recovery and New Beginning". The G8 summit was an opportunity for a wide variety of non-governmental organizations, activists and civic groups to congregate and discuss a multitude of issues; but the dramatic demonstrations at the G20 summit in Toronto eclipsed protests primarily focused on the conferring G8 leaders.

The Group of Seven (G7) was an unofficial forum which brought together the heads of the richest industrialized countries: France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada starting in 1976. The G8, meeting for the first time in 1997, was formed with the addition of Russia. In addition, the President of the European Commission has been formally included in summits since 1981. The summits were not meant to be linked formally with wider international institutions; and in fact, a mild rebellion against the stiff formality of other international meetings was a part of the genesis of cooperation between France's President Giscard d'Estaing and West Germany's Chancellor Helmut Schmidt as they conceived the initial summit of the Group of Six (G6) in 1975.