weeds in waterloo ontario

This Mississauga Man Fought the City’s Weeding Bylaws in Court. He’s Part of Ontario’s Growing Fight Against Lawn Enforcement

Proponents of naturalized gardens fear a shift away from a seminal ruling that protected a garden under freedom of expression

June 19, 2024 | Source: Toronto Star | by Omar Mosleh

When does gardening qualify as a human right?

That depends what side of the lawn you’re on.

For proponents of naturalized gardens, which are allowed to grow semi-wild for environmental reasons, one of the clearest rulings dates back to the early ‘90s, when a Toronto woman named Sandy Bell challenged a $50 bylaw infraction ticket on the basis of freedom of expression.

Bell said she naturalized her garden to help the environment, and her lawyers argued the city forcing her to trim it violated her Charter right to express her environmental beliefs through her gardening. The judge agreed, and her victory has been called precedent-setting and is oft-cited in case law.

“My primary concern or raison d’être was to demonstrate to my young son that we could coexist with nature … so that was just a really clear case of being able to express my own environmental beliefs,” Bell said in a recent phone interview.

But a recent ruling out of Ontario’s Superior Court shows the issue is not so clear-cut, after it rejected an application from a Mississauga man who argued that a bylaw in its current form infringes upon his Charter rights.