KarunaNews Story

Most mornings, Wolf Ruck walks the mown paths in his yard in Mississauga, Ontario, watching for insects, birds, and chipmunk kits playing in the tall grass. The artist, film-maker and former Olympic canoeist began rewilding his garden with native plants three years ago. But city officials say it violates the city’s nuisance weed and tall grass control bylaw and twice they have forcibly cut the grass and billed him for it. Ruck took his case to court but lost on procedural grounds after arguing that the city had applied the bylaw unfairly and arbitrarily. Now on the hook for the municipality’s legal bills of $6,000 (£3,450), he has filed an appeal.