HALIFAX, NS: The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms announces that lawyers have filed a written brief in the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia on behalf of Jeffrey Evely, in advance of a March 17–19, 2026 hearing challenging the Province’s 2025 woods travel ban.
Lawyers funded by the Justice Centre filed Mr. Evely’s brief in preparation for the hearing on the merits of the provincial order that effectively closed off the majority of Nova Scotia’s land mass to public access.
The order barred ordinary citizens from entering “woods” including “forest land and rock barren, brush land, dry marsh, bog or muskeg,” even for no-risk activities such as hiking, while granting permits for industrial operations to continue.
“There are serious legal and constitutional issues with the decision of Nova Scotia to completely ban its citizens from being in more than 75 percent of the Province, ostensibly to protect the woods,” said Mr. Moore, one of the lawyers representing Mr. Evely.
“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 woods travel ban,” he added.
The written brief outlines the constitutional and administrative law deficiencies in the Province’s decision, arguing that sweeping restrictions on peaceful outdoor activity must comply with the Charter and the rule of law.
Mr. Evely, a retired Canadian Armed Forces veteran and father of two, was fined $25,000 under the ban on walking in the woods. He relies on daily, multi-hour walks in the forest to support his physical and mental health, and the travel ban prevented him from maintaining this routine.
“Since the travel ban began on August 5, 2025, and until it was lifted, I was unable to engage in my daily, multi-hour walks in the woods. My symptoms worsened every day that passed,” he explained.
The Province is expected to file its responding brief before the hearing.
