RUCK v MISSISSAUGA -- Appeal Hearing Synopsis

Osgoode Hall, Toronto

Lorraine Johnson, a stalwart advocate for the Urban Rewilding Movement in Ontario and Canada, attended today's Hearing at the Ontario Court of Appeal and provided this synopsis of developments ... For the evolving case of RUCK v MISSISSAUGA, check out the info at: https://wolfruck.com/causes/ruck-v-city-of-mississauga/ where developments are regularly posted.

Lorraine Johnson

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A significant victory today in the legal effort to reform grass and weeds bylaws and to bring sanity to enforcement of these bylaws. Wolf Ruck of Mississauga was in the Ontario Court of Appeal today, arguing that Mississauga’s enforcement actions against his naturalized garden—including two complete mowings of his yard—were unjustified, arbitrary, and unfair under Administrative law. Because Wolf’s case raised Constitutional issues, the three appeal court judges basically sent Wolf’s case back to the Ontario Superior Court for a new hearing that includes Charter arguments. It was great to hear the three judges suggest that, for Wolf’s Charter rights to a natural garden to be infringed, the onus was on the City of Mississauga to prove that Wolf’s naturalization presented such danger that his Charter right to express his environmental beliefs through a naturalized garden could be infringed. Good luck with that. Wolf’s case will put municipalities across the country on notice! Stay tuned.