The Nova Scotia Supreme Court has acquitted Jeff Evely and voided the $28,000 fine he received after premier Tim Houston banned walking in the woods during fire season last year. Houston reacted to the ruling by vowing to ban it again this year if he decides it's necessary.
April 27, 2026 - "In August 2025, the Nova Scotia government prohibited all activities across three-quarters of the province on the pretext of preventing forest fires — including hiking, picnicking, fishing, swimming, camping, and birdwatching. Rather than targeting high-risk activities such as smoking, campfires, and outdoor cooking, the law targeted people themselves.
"Retired Master Warrant Officer Jeffrey Evely, who served Canada in Afghanistan and Iraq, saw the ban as Orwellian. He deliberately defied the decree with no guarantee of winning in court. He stated: 'It’s about human dignity … I find the cavalier attitude with which these freedoms have been impaired to be a gross indignity to our fallen soldiers, and a moral injury to those of us still here. This moral injury serves to exacerbate my PTSD symptoms, which I have been managing with therapy, medication, and daily outdoor activity, which I normally conduct in the woods.'
"Mr. Evely received a $28,873 draconian fine simply for walking in the woods. On April 17, the fortieth anniversary of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Nova Scotia Supreme Court struck down the province’s sweeping ban on walking in the woods.
In Evely v. Nova Scotia (Minister), 2026 NSSC 118, the court ruled that the decree affected Charter section 6 mobility rights: 'people could no longer go where they had once gone.' This was not a fleeting or insignificant restriction. It was one that substantially affected people’s lives. The court held that mobility rights 'sit at the heart of what it means to be a free person,' protecting Canadians against curfews, requirements to carry identity papers in public, and outright blockades on movement....
"The court found no evidence that government officials had even considered Charter rights or values before imposing the ban. The documents placed before the Minister did not refer to the Charter at all. Under Charter section 1, any limit on rights must be demonstrably justified with cogent and persuasive evidence. That obviously did not happen here, with the Nova Scotia government apparently oblivious to the existence of the Charter.
"The court also condemned the unacceptable vagueness of the term 'woods' in the Forests Act. The definition included bog (wet muddy ground), muskeg (swamp with water and partly dead vegetation), rock barrens, and land without trees but with 'surface evidence of past forest occupancy.' Nova Scotians facing the $28,873 fine and possible jail time were left in an interpretative quandary.... This vagueness of this Nova Scotia law also engaged Charter section 7 rights to life, liberty, and security of the person. The ban failed to provide fair notice and left the door open to arbitrary enforcement. While the court did not make a final ruling about section 7, it noted a compelling argument that the ban was so vague as to be incapable of being interpreted at all.
"This Evely ruling is a victory for freedom and common sense. It warns governments to think twice before violating Charter freedoms, which will likely result in invalidating the fine against Mr. Evely.
"Since the decision, Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston has drawn sharp public criticism for flippantly stating that his government would do it again if he deemed it 'necessary.' This expresses the very attitude the court condemned: a willingness to disregard Charter rights. But, thankfully, there are freedom-loving Canadians like Jeff Evely who will courageously engage in civil disobedience, to the benefit of all citizens."
Jeff Evely Wins! Court Rules WOODS BAN was Unjustified in Nova Scotia! Tim Houston Responds| Nova Scotia Cobra | April 27, 2026:
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