Ruck v City of Mississauga - DC-23-00000024-0000
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OVERVIEW
In August of 2021 Applicant was served with a Notice of Contravention under the City of Mississauga’s Nuisance Weed and Tall Grass Control By-law 0125-2017, based on “Anonymous Neighbour Complaints”.

Notwithstanding the resolution of this matter in October 2021, in 2022, the City of Mississauga Bylaw Enforcement Division again conducted inspections of Applicant’s private property based on “Anonymous Neighbour Complaints”, and again issued a Notice of Contravention.

Notwithstanding copious communications detailing Applicant’s philosophical, ethical, aesthetic, scientific, logical and legal rationale, as well as the precedent established in 2021, City of Mississauga officials and By-law Enforcement officers remained unresponsive, conducted inspections and issued another Notice of Contravention in July of 2022, followed by enforcement action on July 29, 2022.

Notwithstanding all of the above, on July 20, 2023, Applicant received another Notice of Contravention with the same threat of Enforcement Action as was carried out in 2022 last year as documented in LAWN RAGE - A Case for Change. 

JUDICIAL REVIEW
In May, 2023, Wolf Ruck filed a Notice of Application for Judicial Review of the City of Mississauga’s Administration and Enforcement of By-law 125-2017 on his private property with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Brampton. Court documents currently filed under DC-23-00000024-0000 include: 

Notice of Application for Judicial Review
Notice of Dismissal
Applicant’s Reply
Respondent’s Submission
FACTUM + Schedules

The FACTUM in my Application for Judicial Review was filed in Divisional Court on June 25, 2023, which likely means the "frivolous, vexatious, abuse of process" 2.1A Notice of Dismissal is off the table and I shall "have my day in court" after all.

NOTE
Mississauga’s By-law 125-2017 appears to be a “parallel instrument” in that Ontario's Weed Control Act wording is virtually identical, e.g. time-frames for compliance, inspection access, enforcement provisions, costs, etc..

However, the Weed Control Act options for appealing Notice Of Contravention orders are missing in By-law 125-2017, which is curious if not negligent, given that even a simple parking ticket contains information on options for appeal by the accused.

The absence of this information in By-law 125-2017 is highly problematic in that an Application for Judicial Review is the only avenue left for a citizen to appeal MBLE Division Notices of Contravention, etc.

In the result, the Application may be subject to dismissal as “frivolous, vexatious and an abuse of process” under Rule 2.1A Notice of Dismissal, as in my case.

At a minimum, this Catch-22 clearly contravenes b) Procedural Fairness and d) Abuse of Power under Administrative Law.

Also, it appears the City of Mississauga does not have an " Area Weed Inspector" on staff:

The absence of City of Mississauga weed inspectors is in contravention of the Ontario Weed Control Act which specifies:

Appointment of inspectors 6 (1)
The council of every upper-tier and single-tier municipality shall by by-law appoint one or more persons as area weed inspectors to enforce this Act in the area within the council’s jurisdiction and fix their remuneration or other compensation. R.S.O. 1990, c. W.5, s. 6 (1); 2002, c. 17, Sched. F, Table.

This may de facto render By-law 125-2017 null and void ab initio.  

Documents filed to date may be accessed at: 
https://wolfruck.com/causes/ruck-v-city-of-mississauga/

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