NOVA SCOTIA — Justice Jamie Campbell of Nova Scotia ruled on April 17 that the province's emergency ban on hiking under the forest canopy violated Canadians' mobility rights and was too vague to be interpreted. Campbell found that the government failed to weigh the cost of that breach against efforts to stop the wildfires.

The ban was imposed last summer as wildfires burned across Nova Scotia, with violators facing a fine of C$25,000. The emergency rules defined "woods" to include rock barrens, scrubland, and marshes, and considered land with evidence of former tree presence to qualify as forest. Residents could travel through such areas as long as it was not "any great distance." The province issued permits for industry groups including forest operators, utilities, and telecom companies to continue using the woods during the ban.

"Someone who wanted to stay out of the woods had to put in some interpretive effort. The government just wanted people to use common sense. But the ban seemed to defy commonsense definitions," Campbell wrote. He found that the order was so vague as to be incapable of being interpreted at all. The court warned that failing to protect individual rights can lead to their erosion in ways that affect everyone.

Mobility is a protected right that courts have previously called the heart of what it means to be a free person, and courts require that any infringement involve reasonable consideration of the effects. The challenge was brought by an army veteran who hiked in the forest in Cape Breton after informing bylaw officers of his plans and was fined C$28,872.50. He contested the penalty in court with support from the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms and won. Most people had adhered to the ban.

In July, Premier Tim Houston described the woods ban as inconvenient but essential to avoid a repeat of the 2023 wildfire season. Following the ruling, he said, "I did what I thought was necessary as premier to support our firefighters, to keep people safe, to keep property safe, and that was the woods ban. That was completely appropriate in those circumstances, in that moment, based on the information I had."

Marty Moore, legal counsel for the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, said the decision would likely deter others from pursuing similar measures and traced the case to the 1271 Charter of the Forest, which granted common people rights to use forests. "Unless you've been to Nova Scotia and touched the forest there, it's hard to understand the impact of what the travel ban looks like. Nova Scotia is the woods," Moore said.