$28K woods fine sparks review of forest fire clampdown decision in Nova Scotia

A court case on the Nova Scotia woods ban was back in court.

Jeff Evely was fined nearly $29,000 for entering the woods last summer after Nova Scotia banned people, citing a high-to-extreme risk of forest fires for the entire province.

Evely and his lawyers argue the ban was too broad and applied to almost 80 per cent of the province, which is considered forest, interfering with people’s rights to move freely.

“There’s a much bigger principle at play here,” said Evely outside the Nova Scotia Supreme Court. “And we have a constitution for a reason and we have a right to liberty”.

Evely, a Cape Breton resident, served nearly 20 years in the Canadian Armed Forces and says he suffers from PTSD from his service. Despite different therapies and treatments, a deep walk in the woods near his home is where he gets the most relief from his day-to-day symptoms.

“While I use a whole host of coping strategies to manage my symptoms, forest bathing is probably the one I spend the most time on,” said Evely, who said his symptoms of stress, anxiety, depression and suicidal ideation only worsened while the woods ban was in place.

Evely’s lawyers argue government took a heavy-handed approach by banning all human access to the wood and said they failed to consider the social consequences the ban had on the public.

Blocking hikers while allowing industry and heavy equipment into the woods didn’t make sense, said Evely, whose lawyers told the judge around 300 work permits were given to allow organizations into the woods, all mostly centering around economic opportunities.

“There were innumerable measures they (government) could have put in place before getting all the way to an outright ban of all humans from the woods,” said Evely.

Evely’s legal team argued there’s no evidence walking in the woods creates a fire risk.

The province’s legal team has yet to make their oral arguments before the judge. The judicial review hearing is scheduled to sit again on Thursday. It’s expected the judge will reserve his decision for a later date.

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