A justice of the Nova Scotia Supreme Court struck down a controversial ban which incurred a fine of $25,000 to anyone who hiked, fished, camped, drove, or even simply walked in the woods due to temporary restrictions that became effective as of Tuesday, August 5, 2025 at 4:00 in the afternoon Atlantic Daylight Time.
Court Struck Down Controversial $25,000 Ban From Simply Entering Wooded Areas in Nova Scotia
The ban was imposed by Tory Rushton — who was then the natural resources minister of Nova Scotia — in response to continued hot and dry conditions that had increased the risk of wildfires that had raged out of control in many parts of the entire country of Canada during the summer of 2025.
A staunch opponent of the ban in Nova Scotia was fined $28,872.50 for walking into the woods for a moment as a form of rebellion which was orchestrated beforehand in response to the controversial new law. Upon arriving at the office of the Department of Natural Resources just outside of Sydney, Jeff Evely — who was one of the plaintiffs in the hearing — declared to the employees inside that he would be walking into a patch of woods that was near the office. Despite being ordered not to walk into the woods, he recorded audio and video of his encounter in its entirety and posted it on his social media accounts.
No evidence of forethought of how the ban would affect the Charter rights of Nova Scotians was found — meaning that the ban was impermissible on administrative grounds, according to Jamie S. Campbell, who found in a decision that is 17 pages in length which was released on Friday, April 17, 2026 that the wildfire season activity restrictions unduly limited the Charter-protected mobility rights of Nova Scotians to “move freely around the province.” Campbell — who qualified that his objection was to the way the ban was proclaimed, not necessarily the ban itself — wrote that “There was no evidence in the record…there was any consideration given to mobility rights, how the ban could limit those rights and how the ban could be drafted in a way to to minimize (those) limitations. As a matter of administrative law, the travel ban was unreasonable.”
The ban was mostly rescinded on Thursday, September 18, 2025, with some areas remaining closed until Wednesday, October 15, 2025.
Tim Houston — who is the current premier of Nova Scotia and imposed the penalty for violating the order at $25,000.00 — has been quoted recently as saying that he did what was necessary during the wildfires last year and would institute a ban on entering the woods again if the circumstances called for it in spite of Campbell declaring that the decree was unreasonable.
Nevertheless, anyone who paid the fine will likely have their funds returned to them.
Final Boarding Call
This case is yet another example of sloppy work by a government agency that zealously overstepped its bounds instead of considering the effects that the ban would have on its citizens…
…which reminds me of many other similar examples about which I have written over the years — and I will just leave it at that…
Photograph ©2017 by Brian Cohen.
