A veteran fined for walking in a Nova Scotia forest drew on Roman history and Greek philosophy to rally patriots assembled at a conference in Calgary.Jeffrey Evely gave kudos to Charlie Kirk as he began his Sunday address at We Unify's Reclaiming Canada Conference in Calgary."It seems the light of the world has never burned so dim, and with the loss of this bright young man, Charlie Kirk, he said."Many are left wondering whether we'll ever escape the darkness, but I'm here to tell you that we will. And I'm not an optimist. In fact, I'm a cynic," Evely explained.Nova Scotia premier Tim Houston banned all entry into forested areas—including hiking, fishing, camping, and off-road vehicle use—to prevent human-caused fires. Violators faced a maximum fine of $25,000 CAD per the Act, with victim surcharges and taxes bringing the total to $28,872.50.Evely, who was also related four times in defiance of COVID-era mandates, deliberately violated the ban by walking through a forest on August 8. He recorded a video of his actions that went viral."I want to embarrass these people. I want the world to see, and I think that is the way forward, the mockery, the shame. We need to put these people on the spot and hold them to account, but also protesting just isn't really working anymore," Lively said.The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms is defending Evely and submitting a charter application on his behalf. "I think this is about as good a shot as we're ever going to have at reining these people in," Evely said."This is a war. It's not going to be won in a single battle. We need to think strategically, pick our battles over time. It's a big ship. It has a lot of inertia, so it doesn't turn on the time. But if we just keep it up... [we will] eventually get this thing back on course."The retired veteran of the Canadian Armed Forces served 20 years beginning in 2001. He deployed to Afghanistan (2009) and Iraq (2019), served with NORAD (2010-2014) defending North American airspace, and completed the 100th annual 4-Day Marches in Nijmegen, Netherlands (2016). He has also coached three sports, and ran as a People's Party candidate in Sydney-Glace Bay.Evely draws regular inspiration from the Roman Emperor, Marcus Aurelius, who famously said, "The best revenge is to not be like your enemy." He says he exemplifies overcoming natural weaknesses and manning up to do the right thing."Courage is the act of overcoming that fear and doing the right thing anyway," Evely said.Evely also pointed to Socrates, whom he credited for founding philosophy, the Enlightenment and "all the principles that made Western civilization, the greatest thing in all of human existence."Socrates faced execution for challenging common beliefs and spreading that scepticism to youth. He said, "My plainness of speech makes them hate me, and what is their hatred the proof that I am speaking the truth."Evely said, "Weak men create hard times, hard times create strong men. This is where we are right now." The task is to resist the "totalitarian impulse of humanity" and "World War III." Under this backdrop, the veteran drew on a Canadian Armed Forces definition of leadership."Leadership may be defined as directly or indirectly influencing others by means of formal authority or personal attributes to act in accordance with one's intent or shared purpose. What is our intent or shared purpose? Well, it's to save the future." Evely invoked the examples of sacrificial figures, including Jesus Christ, Tamara Lich, and Billboard Chris Elston."Chris had his arm broken by Antifa. He just keeps taking the beating and getting up and everybody can see how brutally violent these people are. So this, I think, is the path forward," Evely said."It's not through these massive demonstrations where we all have to do a lot of planning and spend a lot of emotional capital getting a big group of people together. Anybody can take an individual action and rise up themselves."
