What is the burden of proving prima facie discrimination by a respondent?

At a hearing, the burden is on a complainant to demonstrate prima facie discrimination by a respondent: a complainant must show that they have a characteristic protected from discrimination; that they have experienced an adverse impact; and that the protected characteristic was a factor in the adverse impact. Once a prima facie case has been established, the burden shifts to the respondent to justify the conduct or practice. If it cannot be justified, discrimination will be found to have occurred: Moore v. British Columbia, 2012 SCC 61, at para. 33. On an application to dismiss filed under s. 27(1)(c), the burden is not on a complainant to establish a prima facie case of discrimination, but rather the burden is on a respondent to show that the complainant has no reasonable prospect of success in doing so: Stonehouse v. Elk Valley Coal (No. 2), 2007 BCHRT 305.