A portion of the Millenium Trail will be closed Thursday morning, with users directed to a detour along Robert Service Way.

Doug Hnatiuk, the city’s supervisor of outreach and events, said this morning the city received a request from Parks Canada and the Prime Minister’s Office about six to eight weeks ago to close off the trail around the SS Klondike National Historic Site so filming could be done.

The timing coincides with Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s visit to the territory.

While Hnatiuk didn’t have full details on the filming, he understands it will involve the prime minister, and is part of film work Parks Canada is doing at its sites across the country.

While previous requests have come in to close parts of the Millenium Trail for a variety of events, the city has kept it open, as it’s deemed a public space.

In this case, the closure set for 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. is not for a lengthy period of time, and a detour can be set up for the small portion of space.

“We didn’t think it would be a problem,” Hnatiuk said, pointing out the trail isn’t heavily used in the mornings through the week.

“There’s not a large volume of traffic,” he noted.

The trail will be closed from the Robert Campbell Bridge to the traffic circle at Robert Service Way and Fourth Avenue.

City parks and recreation staff will set up barricades on each side of the closure and remain there to direct users to the detour while the filming is being done.

Hnatiuk said it will be about an hour of intermittent filming, with additional time needed to set up and take down barricades.

Officials with Parks Canada could not be reached for more details on the film project. Details of Harper’s Yukon agenda have not yet been released.

However, those looking to meet him at a public reception Thursday have been told to go to the former Shell station on the Alaska Highway to catch shuttle buses for the event.