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Talk about a long and winding road. The Skelly matter goes back to November 2020. He defied the draconian and nonsensical COVID-19 lockdown rules by opening his west end Toronto eatery. And wow, did he paid a price for doing so, being fined, criminally charged, and put out of business — as in permanently.

Now it’s payback time as Skelly’s lawyer has launched a constitutional challenge at the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in downtown Toronto. The matter is slated to run for three days.

Perry’s filing, provided to Rebel News, outlines his position against the four respondents: 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.

The filing states: “This constitutional challenge is a reckoning with the unchecked exercise of state power that devastated small business owners, silenced peaceful dissent and trampled core constitutional protections, all without a shred of cogent evidence to justify the destruction.”

In court, Perry said the state used its “full machinery” to go after Skelly and that the fallout was “vicious.”

What’s more, Perry said to this day no “hard evidence” exists connecting the spread of COVID to indoor dining.

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

And reopening the Etobicoke Adamson BBQ was more than merely an economic play. Rather, Skelly was exercising his right to demonstrate against the government’s harsh and hypocritical lockdown rules (i.e., huge multinational corporations such as Costco and Walmart remained open during COVID - ditto the provincial government’s liquor monopoly, the LCBO. But ma & pa shops could not open. Where’s the logic in that?)

As well, the Adamson BBQ reopening was about freedom of assembly given the hundreds of supporters who gathered at the restaurant.

Interestingly, Perry cited a 2005 Supreme Court of Canada decision regarding a Montreal strip club. The club used a loudspeaker to amplify music and commentary to passersby and the city’s bylaw department fined the club for doing so. But the Supremes overturned that conviction on the basis that the bylaw infringed on the respondent’s freedom of expression and this infringement could not be justified.

Court resumes re: constitutional challenge of William Adamson Skelly (Adam Skelly) and the Province of Ontario, City of Toronto, Board of Health for the City of Toronto and Eileen de Villa.
To recap: Skelly, who operated 3 BBQ restaurants, was arrested, fined & put out of…

— David Menzies (@TheMenzoid) February 25, 2026

Perry also noted that when Dr. de Villa was earlier cross-examined, it was not a matter of what she said but what she didn’t say. For example, she refused to answer numerous questions regarding Charter rights and the law. She refused to provide data. She refused to provide documentation regarding her plan to close Adamson BBQ. She even refused to explain the apparent double standard when it came to the city not cracking down on Black Lives Matter gatherings.

Speaking of double standards, the city is still waiting for Skelly to pay $187,000 to cover the policing costs incurred during the three-day long BBQ Rebellion. That’s fascinating. Indeed, we wonder when the city plans to invoice the pro-Hamas demonstrators? In 2024 alone, policing the Hamashole get-togethers cost the city $19.5 million! Alas, is this yet another example of one rule for thee, on rule for me?

The hearing continues on Thursday.