A hearing before a Provincial Court Judge to decide whether there is sufficient evidence for the accused to go to trial; a preliminary hearing only takes place where the accused is charged with an indictable offence and chooses to be tried by a judge or judge and jury of the Court of Queen's Bench; also known as a preliminary inquiry (sasklawcourts.ca)
The appeal court sent the case back to the preliminary inquiry judge, but N.S. appealed the decision to the Supreme Court instead. (canadianlawyermag.com)
A preliminary inquiry judge ordered her to remove the veil when she testified, and appeals pushed the case to the Supreme Court. (canadianlawyermag.com)