A court challenge of Nova Scotia’s ban on travel in the woods was scheduled to get underway on Tuesday.
That ban was ordered in early August 2025, as the province dealt with wildfires and extreme dry conditions led to concerns about more wildfires starting.
Announcing the ban, along with a fine of more than $25,000 for violations, Premier Tim Houston described conditions in Nova Scotia as a “tinder box”. Restrictions were brought in for activities like hiking, camping and fishing.
Similar restrictions were implemented during the devastating 2023 wildfire season, and restrictions on wooded hiking trails were also used in 2001 and 2016, albeit with a much lower fine for violations.
This week’s court challenge, led by the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) on behalf of Jeffrey Evely, is scheduled for three days.
Justice Centre constitutional lawyer Marty Moore says there are “serious legal and constitutional issues” with the ban.
“Banning people from hiking in the woods despite posing zero fire risk, while expressly permitting heavy industrial activities with significant fire risks to continue, demonstrates the lack of rationality and unconstitutional arbitrariness of Nova Scotia’s decision to ban the public from the woods,” Moore said in a media release.
The challenge is on behalf of Jeffery Evely, described by the JCCF as a retired Canadian Armed Forces veteran and father of two. Evely was vocal about his opposition to the ban on social media, and was fined $28,872.50 for walking in the woods that August.
The woods restrictions were lifted for most of the province in mid-September, but remained a while longer in Annapolis County, where firefighters had long battled a large wildfire.
The JCCF describes itself as a registered charity that aims to defend the constitutional freedoms of Canadians.
