Constitutional right to a wild garden with weeds and bees to be tested in Ontario court
-
A Burlington homeowner is fighting charges over her “naturalized garden” of native plants in her front and back yards. The city is taking Karen Barnes to Provincial Offences Court, seeking up to $400,000 in fines for violating a bylaw order to cut it down.
Barnes is challenging the case on constitutional grounds, arguing her right to freedom of expression through gardening is protected under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
She says her garden supports pollinators, biodiversity and wildlife, reflecting her environmental and spiritual beliefs. She appeared for a pre-trial hearing on Wednesday and is scheduled for a two-day trial in November, according to her lawyer, Vilko Zbogar.
Zbogar says the case is about more than the fine. “Courts have recognized since at least 1996 that freedom of expression under the Charter protects natural gardens as expressions of profound environmental values,” he said. “For Karen, it’s also a spiritual exercise — tied to her creed and beliefs. This falls under Sections 2(a) and 2(b) of the Charter: freedom of conscience and religion and freedom of expression.”
Experts say naturalized gardens and meadows can attract far more pollinators than regularly mown lawns, while also using less water and improving soil health.
Constitutional right to a wild garden with weeds and bees to be tested in Ontario court
A Burlington homeowner is fighting charges over her “naturalized garden” of native plants in her front and back yards. The city is taking Karen Barnes to Provincial Offences Court, seeking up to $400,000 in fines for violating a bylaw order to cut it down.
Canada's National Observer (www.nationalobserver.com)
Based Karen.
-
Its the city not an HOA. We don’t have legally enforceable HOAs in Canada. You can volunteer to belong to a community HOA, but its nothing binding or legal. More like a club.
Thank you for the info. I guess I have HOA PTSD for me to assume it was an HOA. I read quotes and somehow I assumed it was HOA.
Sorry.
-
HOAs aren’t really a thing in our country, unless you’re in a multi-unit building.
She is being taken to court by the city.
I have no idea why I assumed HOA. Sorry.
Thank you for the info.
-
Mmh, I’d describe it more as self-centered in general, since there are plants the world over that get called weeds. “We don’t see any value in this, therefore it should be eradicated in favour of things we can use.”
In favour of things which we have no use for as a status symbol.
-
In favour of things which we have no use for as a status symbol.
Your only comparing it to grass doesn’t help.
-
Wonder how much this fruitless battle is costing taxpayers.
Only slightly less than the 400,000 they’re seeking in “damages” ffs.
People need to get ousted for allowing this insanity
-
Its the city not an HOA. We don’t have legally enforceable HOAs in Canada. You can volunteer to belong to a community HOA, but its nothing binding or legal. More like a club.
Common sense social organizations? In Canada?! Well slap my fascist regime and call me Cletus!
Because our country is a goddamn sick joke and we’re jealous as hell. gO Canada.
-
Damn I hope they win against the city. The typical law has to die, it’s ridiculously useless and detrimental to biodiversity.
Why should we have to maintain one type of plant which has problems surviving without lots of upkeep?
HOAs in general and all the bs that goes with it like this “law” are a thing of the past and don’t reflect the current world we live in. Pristine manicured yards have caused problems across the globe for the underlying systems that keep the earth healthy and vibrant. We need to relearn how to live in the environments we find ourselves in, not cater them to our own self deluding fantasies of perfection.
-
Common sense social organizations? In Canada?! Well slap my fascist regime and call me Cletus!
Because our country is a goddamn sick joke and we’re jealous as hell. gO Canada.
Yeah, we have some good things, besides “free” healthcare.
The closest thing to an HOA in Canada is when it is a shared building like a Condo, then we have a Strata.
It runs as a legal corporation, with some property (such as building, roof being common property, and some outdoor spaces being shared or limited common property) the difference is each year you get to vote in a new council (if people want the role) and changes to bylaws are voted on as a majority by the owners. Minor things 51% majority, major changes are 75% majority.
So if something like a “no yellow doors” policy bothers you, you just propose a motion to allow yellow as a building scheme for doors, and hope enough residents agree. Since the housing market where I live has such a high resell rate, its rare you’d be stuck with the same ultra staunch voters for every council.
-
Mmh, I’d describe it more as self-centered in general, since there are plants the world over that get called weeds. “We don’t see any value in this, therefore it should be eradicated in favour of things we can use.”
It’s also, in the simplest way, incompetent.
All those weeds provide some ecological service in some way. If you look at my yard and note it’s covered in tall straggly white flowers, you could say weedy, and be right. I would clarify that wild carrots are helping convert our heavy clay soil into good tilth, and supporting a massive number of pollinators and pest predators.
And why would we put up with yellow dock going to seed everywhere? It’s the most nutritious chicken fodder, and it also gives tilth to heavy clay.
Don’t get me started about dandelion!!
-
I have no idea why I assumed HOA. Sorry.
Thank you for the info.
Well, we all have varying degrees of parochialism in our local outlook.
-
In favour of things which we have no use for as a status symbol.
Displaying a status symbol is a use—just a very poor one.
-
The term “weed” is stupid. Arbitrarily deciding that certain native plants are undesirable is such a colonizer mindset
Ragweed can burn in hell.
-
Ragweed can burn in hell.
F yeah, allergy brother/sister!
-
The term “weed” is stupid. Arbitrarily deciding that certain native plants are undesirable is such a colonizer mindset
I think the term is fine if you approach it from an “invasive species” mindset rather than an “undesirable” mindset.
I don’t know if it was intentionally done by my teachers, but that’s the impression I always got about the term since it was usually brought up in the context of introduced species of plants causing harm to native species. Stuff like dandelions and such.
-
Damn I hope they win against the city. The typical law has to die, it’s ridiculously useless and detrimental to biodiversity.
Why should we have to maintain one type of plant which has problems surviving without lots of upkeep?
Yes but also no. I agree but there is a big grain of salt to be had here. Yards like also help pests thrive too. Particularly ticks and rodents come to mind. Lots of hiding areas that are safe for rodents to avoid seen / caught. Easy safe pathways for skunks, raccoons, possums etc. Ticks are gona love the tall plants and moist conditions. Earwigs are gona be all up in almost everything that is there. If there is anything that grows fruit, well you vet your ass theres gona be way more paper wasps/balshead hornets/ yellow jackets etc. Is the increased pollen going to now cause more allergies for 8 year old Timmy next door? When winter rolls around all those wonderfull bugs and critters 100% gona want to cozy up in your 2000sqft home. From attic, basment, or kitchen Cupboard.
Eveyone seems to miss the fact that a diverse environment doesn’t only just attract bees and Butterflies. It wouldn’t be "diverse " if it did.
The big reason we grow grass and keep it short is for pest control.
-
Based Karen.
Cept for all those other Karens
-
Yes but also no. I agree but there is a big grain of salt to be had here. Yards like also help pests thrive too. Particularly ticks and rodents come to mind. Lots of hiding areas that are safe for rodents to avoid seen / caught. Easy safe pathways for skunks, raccoons, possums etc. Ticks are gona love the tall plants and moist conditions. Earwigs are gona be all up in almost everything that is there. If there is anything that grows fruit, well you vet your ass theres gona be way more paper wasps/balshead hornets/ yellow jackets etc. Is the increased pollen going to now cause more allergies for 8 year old Timmy next door? When winter rolls around all those wonderfull bugs and critters 100% gona want to cozy up in your 2000sqft home. From attic, basment, or kitchen Cupboard.
Eveyone seems to miss the fact that a diverse environment doesn’t only just attract bees and Butterflies. It wouldn’t be "diverse " if it did.
The big reason we grow grass and keep it short is for pest control.
ignoring the obvious fact that you’re effectively declaring entire clades of sentient animals to be basically biological waste because i know im going to make exactly zero headway with a human supremacist in this comment; if the primary consideration were pests, wouldn’t stones or pavement be a more ideal solution than grass with all the maintenance and upkeep that requires being baked into the law?
-
ignoring the obvious fact that you’re effectively declaring entire clades of sentient animals to be basically biological waste because i know im going to make exactly zero headway with a human supremacist in this comment; if the primary consideration were pests, wouldn’t stones or pavement be a more ideal solution than grass with all the maintenance and upkeep that requires being baked into the law?
i feel comfortable declaring centipedes, you know those ones that look like eyelashes? those are biological waste because they freak me the fuck out. every time i see one i have nightmares for a week i’m going to wake up with beautiful gorgeous long eyelashes, but they’ll turn out to just be centipedes with a thing for my eye juices. if they have any other purpose in the universe than giving me eye juice nightmares i don’t want to hear it
-
Wonder how much this fruitless battle is costing taxpayers.
Unfortunately many tax payers will support it, because non-standard property appearance drags down property values. Or people just get their panties twisted by stuff. Some of my city’s aldermen are trying to make it illegal to grow corn (technically “vegetable gardens over six feet tall”) in city limits because they have gotten so many complaints from neighbors. Having a food plant visible near a residence? The horror!
