The appellants, two Black lawyers, were aggressively asked for identification in a lawyers' lounge by a librarian who did not question anyone else.
The Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario found this constituted racial discrimination.
The Divisional Court quashed the decision, finding the tribunal applied the wrong test and reversed the burden of proof.
The Court of Appeal allowed the appeal and restored the tribunal's decision, holding that the Divisional Court erred by requiring a 'causal nexus' for discrimination and by confusing the legal burden of proof with the shifting evidential burden.
