A Canadian court has ruled that Nova Scotia's ban on entering woodlands during last summer's wildfires was unconstitutional, in a decision that criticised the provincial government for overreach. The ruling came after a hiker deliberately defied the order and was fined nearly C$29,000.
The emergency measure, introduced last July as wildfires swept the province, prohibited people from walking in "the woods" and carried a fine of C$25,000. However, the definition of "woods" was so broad that it included rock barrens, scrubland and marshes, and did not require the presence of actual trees.
Jeffrey Evely, an army veteran, challenged the ban with the support of the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms. After informing bylaw officers of his intentions, he entered forest in Cape Breton and was issued a fine of C$28,872.50. Last week, Justice Jamie Campbell of the Nova Scotia Supreme Court found the ban violated the mobility rights of Nova Scotians.
The judge said the order was "so vague as to be incapable of being interpreted at all" and that while the government had to act quickly during a fast-moving crisis, it failed to weigh the cost of breaching individual rights. The decision warned that rights can be "eroded in a way that eventually affects everyone".
Premier Tim Houston defended the ban as necessary to support firefighters and protect property given the information available at the time. The legal counsel for the JCCF, Marty Moore, said the decision would likely deter similar measures and drew parallels to the Magna Carta and the Charter of the Forest from 1271.
