In an exclusive interview with RAIR Foundation, Canadian Armed Forces veteran Jeff Evely announced a significant legal victory: the Nova Scotia Supreme Court has struck down the provincial government’s 2025 blanket ban on entering the woods as unconstitutional.
Watch the exclusive interview below:
Evely, who deliberately tested the ban last summer by walking into the brush behind a Department of Natural Resources office in full view of conservation officers, was hit with a $28,872.50 fine. He shook their hands, thanked them, and walked away, setting the stage for a constitutional challenge backed by the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (private interest) and the Canadian Constitution Foundation (public interest).
(Below is the 2025 RAIR interview with Jeff shortly after he challenged the ban by forcing Nova Scotia to ticket him for walking in the woods.)
On April 17, 2026, the anniversary of Canada’s Constitution, Nova Scotia Supreme Court Justice Jamie S. Campbell ruled the ban “unreasonable.” The government failed the Doré test (the balance of rights between the individual and society) at the very first step: there was no evidence that officials considered Charter-protected mobility rights before imposing the sweeping prohibition. The decision was succinct and clear: the ban violated Canadians’ right to move freely in their own province.
Selective Enforcement and “Some People More Equal Than Others”
The ban was not applied evenly. While ordinary citizens were barred from the woods, exceptions were made for:
- A small encampment of homeless people living in tents (who were presumably cooking and lighting fires).
- A far-left, anti-colonialist theatrical production staged by a First Nations group, and all who wanted to attend the performances were permitted into the restricted forest.
- A lesbian wedding was held in a restricted area.
Industry was also permitted to continue operations (under blanket travel permits). As Evely noted, the government’s own documents showed concern only about potential lawsuits from industry, not about citizens’ rights or freedoms.
Evely pointed out the absurdity: “What are the woods? Nova Scotia is the woods.” The government’s overreach even extended to canceling a sandcastle-building contest on a beach, as if sand and water posed a wildfire risk.
This victory builds on Evely’s earlier defiance during the 2023 ban, which was dismissed on technical grounds (lack of “financial harm” and mootness).
With this new fine, Jeff forced the state to give him in 2025; standing and mootness arguments collapsed, allowing the Charter challenge to succeed. He now had a financial stake: the massive amount of the fine.
On the question of harm done by government overreach: While the fine against Evely has effectively been nullified and the ban declared invalid, he and interviewer Vlad Tepes discussed a deeper frustration: governments can impose rights-violating measures, achieve their short-term goals, and face little to no personal accountability.
Any future lawsuits would likely be paid from the public purse, meaning citizens sue themselves. Evely argued for stronger deterrents, including personal liability for officials who act in bad faith or clearly exceed their authority.
“Without real consequences”, he warned, “such abuses will continue.”
May Day – Kids in Crisis”: Major Rally to Protect Children from Medical Transition:
Evely is now channeling that same fighting spirit into protecting Canada’s children. On May 5, 2026, he is organizing the “May Day – Kids in Crisis” event in Ottawa to demand an end to childhood medical transition.
Schedule:
- 10:30 a.m. – Parliamentary Press Conference
- 1:00 p.m. – Rally on Parliament Hill
- 6:00 p.m. – Town Hall (location disclosed only to ticket holders for security; doors open at 5:00 p.m.)
Key Speakers Include:
- Scott Nugent (featured in Matt Walsh’s What Is a Woman?) — a detransitioner and powerful voice against medical transitions, especially for minors.
- Mia Hughes (Macdonald Laurier Institute) and Jan Specht, author of The WPATH Files exposing scandals in “gender-affirming care.”
- Dr. Ann Gillies, PhD, author of The Ultimate Deception and founder of Restoring the Mosaic.
- Barry Neufeld, former BC school trustee fined $750,000 by the BC Human Rights Tribunal for opposing SOGI (Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity) indoctrination in schools.
- Kelly Lynn Perry (Detransition Alliance Canada), young detransitioner Faith Grolu, lawyer Chris Flurry (fighting to remove males from female prisons), and Jeff Evely himself.
The goal is clear: ban cosmetic sex-reassignment procedures and cross-sex hormones for anyone under 25, the age at which brain development (particularly risk assessment and impulse control) is more fully mature.
As Evely put it, this is not about opposing adult choices or sexual orientation. It is about stopping the “for-profit sexual butchery of Canadian children” that creates lifelong medical patients.
Tickets for the town hall are $20. Donations are needed to cover flights and logistics (Evely has already gone out of pocket for several). Full details, speaker bios, and tickets are available at MayDayCanada.com. A GiveSendGo campaign is also active.
Evely emphasized that the event will feature full speeches, a panel discussion, and Q&A at the town hall, while the rally on the Hill will give voice to affected parents, detransitioners, and others.
RAIR has also previously interviewed Dr. Ann Gillies and covered related stories on detransitioners and gender ideology.
This is a critical moment. Jeff Evely’s willingness to stand up, first against the woods ban, now against the medicalization of children shows what one determined citizen can achieve.
This is not just a Canadian issue, as we saw with Matt Walsh’s film. Anyone who can and wants to protect children’s bodies and preserve basic freedoms is encouraged to attend the May 5 events or support the effort.
