One of the lawyers representing a Canadian Forces veteran who was fined over $28,000 for walking in the woods has sketched out his client’s plan of legal action.
Chris Fleury, who works for Charter Advocates Canada, said he is hoping Jeff Evely’s case “will eventually get to court” so the punishment can be scrutinized by a judge.
Evely, who was interviewed by NowMedia earlier this month, was slapped with a $28,772.50 fine for violating a ban on access to the woods in Nova Scotia.
The ban was justified by the province’s premier, Tim Houston, on safety grounds amid a drought in Nova Scotia.
But Fleury said the law is both unreasonable and unclear, adding that it “captures activities which we all know don’t start fires.”
“The idea that you go into the woods for 90 seconds and walk out, which is what he did, it's completely disproportionate,” Fleury told NowMedia.
He highlighted the fact that typical fines for first-time impaired driving are around $2,000.
“It certainly sounds like they're pulling it out of their hat or that they're just trying to come up with a number,” he said, adding: “They're trying to come up with a number that is going to dissuade most people; most people don't have $25,000 in their back pocket to pull out and pay this fine.”
But, Fleury said, “there are protections under the Charter for cruel and unusual punishment,” meaning “things cannot be arbitrary and disproportionate” when they affect a citizen’s “liberty interests.”
He also highlighted the “vague” aspect of the legislation used to fine Evely, which he claims has defined “the woods” in a way that goes “beyond what you might actually think.”
His client, Fleury said, would argue that “Nova Scotia is the woods.”
“Anyone who's been to Nova Scotia knows that you can't travel from one place to another without going through what is a forest or the woods,” he said.
“The vast majority of the province is wooded area … does it mean that if you go into an area where there's three trees – is that the woods? Is it four trees? Is it five trees? Do you have to go one tree deep into the woods to be in the woods?”
Fleury said he’s hoping to file a judicial review on the matter in the coming days.
If and when the police file against Evely over the violation, Fleury said, his client will then plead not guilty and will hope the case can be heard in court.
