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The applicant is former Toronto barbecue restaurateur Adam Skelly, represented by his lawyer, Ian Perry of Perrys LLP.

The Skelly matter goes back to November 2020. That’s when he defied the draconian and nonsensical COVID-19 lockdown rules by opening his west end Toronto eatery. And wow, did he pay a price for doing so, being fined, criminally charged, and put out of business — as in permanently. Indeed, Skelly has since moved to Alberta and is no longer in the restaurant business.

The respondents are the Province of Ontario, the City of Toronto, Toronto’s board of health and former medical officer of health, Dr. Eileen de Villa.

The filing alleges several infringements of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms against Skelly, including his freedom of peaceful assembly and against his arbitrary detention.

In the morning, Perry wrapped up his final arguments. One of the points he made was that Adamson BBQ was not a viable operation without the indoor dining component. While the opening of Adamson BBQ was dubbed “the Great BBQ Rebellion”, perhaps “rebellion” is too harsh a word given that all Skelly wanted to do was open his business, employ his staff, and cater to hundreds of appreciative customers — just as the likes of Costco, Walmart, Home Depot and the LCBO were doing at the time.

Alas, the state made an example of Skelly. He was fined, arrested, and bankrupted.

Another argument made by Perry was the lack of hard evidence provided by the government pertaining to indoor dining being responsible for increased COVID transmissions.

Perhaps the most stunning testimony made by Perry pertained to Dr. Matthew Hodge. He’s the doctor the province relied on as its single public health expert. When Dr. Hodge was earlier cross examined, he stated he had no idea how decisions were made nor was he given access to evidence or people who were responsible for decisions. Said Dr. Hodge: “I am a minnow, the sharks do as they wish.”

Astonishing…

Remember Adam Skelly from Adamson Barbecue?

In 2020, he defied COVID lockdowns and opened his Toronto restaurant, facing serious consequences. More than five years later, he’s still fighting it in court.

This is a chilling reminder of how dark the COVID era truly was. pic.twitter.com/I56nzIOuYO

— Lincoln Jay (@lincolnmjay) February 24, 2026

But the argument put forth by Padraic Ryan, the lawyer for the Province of Ontario, was essentially that the law is the law and nobody is above the law. He gave the hypothetical example of someone who is opposed to speed limits and then protests speed limits by speeding. The argument that speeding was a valid form of protest would not get that person out of a speeding ticket.

Ryan also stated there was not a blanket ban on restaurants at the time. Eateries could function via drive-through service, takeout and delivery. But as Perry previously noted, depriving Adamson BBQ of indoor dining made the restaurant unviable.

As for City of Toronto lawyer Penelope Ma, she stated that Dr. Eileen de Villa, the city’s medical officer of health, did nothing wrong by ordering the locks changed at Adamson BBQ and having Skelly charged with trespassing. On the contrary, Ma says Dr. de Villa was properly exercising her powers under the Health Protection and Promotion Act of Ontario.

Both Ma and Ryan stated the environment was very different in 2020 compared to subsequent years. Little was known about COVID-19 at the time and a vaccine had yet to be developed. Said Ryan: “If we held the government to the gold standard for every law we would never get anything done.”

We think the best rebuttal to that position was a statement made by Perry on Day One referring to a Court of Appeal decision regarding another case in which the judge opined: “The Constitution does not fade from view in times of crises.”

The hearing continues on Friday, February 27.