(0:00 - 0:22) For two years, our governments in Canada violated our charter rights under the COVID narrative, but they couldn't keep that game going indefinitely, so now they need something new. Climate lockdowns. In 2023, and again this year, Nova Scotia closed the woods province-wide for over two months under threat of severe fines if anyone violated those orders. (0:23 - 1:44) Newfoundland and Labrador and New Brunswick imposed similar restrictions. Ostensibly, the justification for this was that 2025 was an exceptionally dry year, and people going into the woods would increase the risk of forest fires. While we don't have reliable rainfall data yet for 2025, that was their excuse in 2023 as well, and as you can see from this chart, rainfall that year was actually above average. When Jeff Evely, a 20-year Canadian Armed Forces veteran, notified forestry officers that he was going to defy the ban on August 9th, they issued him a ticket for $28,872.50 after spending just 90 seconds in the woods. This led to questions from the public, and the Nova Scotia government started changing their story, their justification for the ban becoming ever more ridiculous. What becomes obvious, listening to Jeff's first-hand account, is that what we are actually seeing are the actions of a captured and incompetent government who, rather than doing the job they were elected to do, are in fact working against the people. Jeff, welcome to the show. Thanks for having me, Will. It's great to be here. (1:46 - 3:24) Now, you have become sort of famous in Canada for this case that you've taken on in Nova Scotia on behalf of all of us, on behalf of our rights and freedoms. Thank you very much for that. But for those people who are watching this who may not know what happened August 9th in Nova Scotia, would you please tell us what happened there? Sure thing. Actually, I think even fewer people are aware of how it started because they actually brought in this ban in 2023 during the wildfire season then. That was when we had the Barrington fire that was the largest in Nova Scotia's history. They imposed a blanket ban across the province on entering the woods. I live on Cape Breton Island, so there's a very clear natural fire break between us and the mainland where the fires were happening. It's called the Strait of Canso. It's a slice of ocean that's about two kilometres wide and there's never been a fire that's ever jumped it in the past. So I thought that that was an overreach at that time and I submitted an application for judicial review to the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia. Eventually, it was dismissed on standing. The Crown argued mootness since, of course, the ban was lifted by the time it got to court and they also argued standing. They said I tried to argue public interest standing and private interest standing. They said I couldn't enter into proceedings as a public interest litigant because I wasn't a lawyer or a civil liberties organisation and I didn't have private interest standing because I was not harmed and I was not fined. The judge said had I gotten a fine, then I would have gotten private interest standing. (3:24 - 3:37) When they brought the bans in earlier this year, I knew what I had to do right away. I had to go out and take a fine. So I called DNR ahead of time and made an appointment to come in and get my fine. (3:37 - 3:54) They said that about four o'clock would be a good time because that's when the guys are just coming in on shift. So I drove out to the office there in Cocksheath, Nova Scotia. I explained the situation on the phone to the supervisor prior to heading out there. (3:54 - 5:03) And when I got there, I told the guys, you know, nothing personal guys. I'm not trying to make any trouble for you, but this is the situation. It's just that the judge says they won't review these mandates in light of our charter rights because there has to be money involved. So I invited them to follow me out behind the building and watch me walk into a dense patch of bush for about 90 seconds. And when I came out the other side, they brought me back inside and issued me a $28,872.50 fine, $25,000 in fines, plus taxes and victim fees. Right. And what was the attitude of the officers you dealt with? I thought they were pretty good, pretty professional. I, you know, initially, they tried to intimidate me a little bit, threatened to double the fine to $50,000. And I said, yeah, that sounds good. Let's do it. And just kind of kept it cool. I understood that they were going to do those kinds of things because that's what their superiors expect them to do, that they would try to deter me from going forward with the violation. (5:04 - 5:57) But at the end of the day, they were pretty good sports about it. We all shook hands before I left. And actually, there was some kind of a clerical error. You know, DNR says it was the courts, court says it was DNR. I don't really know. But they had to issue me a new ticket. And there's the same guy who threatened to double my fine actually came to my house and gave me the new fine and, you know, shook my hand again, had a good laugh about the fact that Joe Rogan mentioned it and was on his way. At the end of the day, I think they're just kind of regular guys. They're just, you know, some good old boys down home, Kate Brett and Erson. Off camera, a lot of the stuff that I edited out, like there were some pretty pleasant interactions there. We were just doing the small town Kate Brett and chitchat thing about, you know, do you know this guy? Do you know that guy? Who's your father? And things like that. So, so yeah, I thought they were pretty decent. (5:58 - 7:26) And they, a little bit of professional courtesy, I think, went a long way. Jeff, you've served in the Canadian Armed Forces for 20 years. I believe you achieved the rank of warrant officer, which, if I understand correctly, is the highest rank an NCO can have. Is that correct? I never served myself, so. No, I was the master warrant officer. So it was one rank above warrant officer. And the highest rank would be the next one after that. So chief warrant officer is the highest rank in the NCO Corps. And I was, I was second. All right. But which means, essentially, you served your country, you served well. Yes. Yeah, that's fair. Yeah. So my question then would be, was what you did here in any way connected to that service? That you're feeling that this is something you have to do for your country? Absolutely. I mean, and I suppose I feel this much more strongly, having given my experience in the military, especially serving in Afghanistan. And, you know, later in Iraq, to a lesser extent, we didn't really, you know, lose as many people there, obviously. But I was in Afghanistan at a time when I may have potentially seen more young Canadians repatriated to Canada in a flag-draped coffin than any other living Canadian. So I think I have a pretty good sense of the true price of freedom. I've been singing, we stand on guard for thee my whole life. So, you know, I think I mean that more these days than I ever did before. (7:27 - 8:43) And I felt a duty, because I was trained when I went to basic training, that I have a duty to defy illegal orders. And of course, the question is always, well, how am I going to know that the order is illegal? And the answer is, you have to use your own judgement. And then the next question is always, well, you know, what happens? What kind of protections am I going to have if I turn out to be wrong? And the answer is none. You're going to go in front of the judge. The judge is going to review these orders in light of the law. And if you turn out to be wrong, then you're going to be under the Code of Service Discipline. But we impose this heavy burden on our young people, because this is the only thing that separates us from Nazis. So I think we've kind of let things slide far enough. We've lost enough ground as it is, not one more inch. And my intention was to stick to my duty and, you know, defy this tyrant, get these mandates in front of a judge so that they can be reviewed in light of the Constitution. And, you know, if my judgement turns out to be wrong, I don't think that it is, then, you know, I'll be stuck with this fine. But at the end of the day, my duty will be satisfied. (8:44 - 9:40) What is the Houston government's supposed justification for this violation of our rights? Well, they keep saying that it's a really dry season. And, you know, they say, the things that I hear some of the senior DNR guys saying are things like, more people in the woods means more fires. And it all really just kind of falls apart, because we can see that there are people being allowed into the woods all over the Atlantic provinces. New Brunswick got on board with the ban for a little while, but the narrative kind of started to fall apart. And some people have said that it was in response to the pressure that I was applying. Susan Holt said that, you know, no, you can't go in the woods. But obviously, it's not because you're going to start a fire. It's because you're going to break your leg, and we don't have enough resources to rescue you. And then it went back. (9:41 - 11:18) I got to stop you there, Jeff. So now you can't go in the woods because you might break your leg. Are they serious? That's what she said. She said it with a straight face. And she also said that, we're stretched too thin. We're already fighting fires, so we don't have enough resources to do both. So right there, she admitted that it is a mismanagement issue. They don't have enough resources in place to provide life-saving services that we pay for. And what's his name? I think it's Brad Wall in Newfoundland. He said, I can't stop people from going in the woods. Like, Newfoundland is the woods. And that was my point. I was like, Nova Scotia is the woods. Have you been to Nova Scotia, Tim Houston? Because it's the woods. And eventually, it did go back to Tim Houston. And he kind of said, OK, sure, I know sneakers don't really cause fire. But what if you were to get lost and find yourself engulfed in the flames of a wildfire? I don't think anybody wants that. And I did a post. I was like, I would like to thank the dear leader for showing me the error of my ways. Were it not for his overbearing paternalism, I might have gotten lost in the park by my house and accidentally walked my dog for eight days to find myself engulfed in the flames of the nearest wildfire. Because that's what we were talking about. They actually taped off gravel trails in the park by my house, because those were considered the woods, and other parts of the park were not considered to be the woods. So the whole thing, I think, just really goes to kind of the absurdity of it all. And I had a lot of fun humiliating these people. (11:19 - 11:35) I got to pursue this further, Jeff, because you've just revealed something. I didn't know this, what you've just told me. And I'm sure a lot of the viewers didn't either. So this all started out as, well, you know, it's a dry season. We have to prevent the forest fires, blah, blah, blah. We'll get into that later in the previous interview that I did with a mutual friend of ours, Peter MacIsaac. (11:35 - 12:17) But now, suddenly, the narrative is, well, you might get hurt. Is this the nanny state running them up, that we're supposed to accept that we're not growing up enough to accept the risk of walking in the woods? Because the natural result of that reasoning is that we should all stay home and sit in our chairs and not go anywhere we don't absolutely have to go, because we might get hurt. The federal government of Canada has been working for years to remove your right to privacy. (12:18 - 12:55) Our rights under the Charter have been repeatedly violated, and bill after bill is being introduced to place you under constant surveillance and control. But you can take steps to protect yourself. The Privacy Academy offers regular courses on protecting your privacy, not just from governments and corporations, but also from scammers. And their courses are designed for people with no technical or computer proficiency. We at The Iron Wire recommend you take their courses, but you can start by attending one of their free weekly introductory webinars. You'll find a link below this video directly to Privacy Academy's weekly webinar signup page. (12:56 - 13:00) The Privacy Academy will teach you how to exit the surveillance state.