Thank you.
Thank you for being here today, Mr. Spratt, especially in response to a last-minute request. Thanks also to your organization for being able to enlighten us.
I do not know if you have had the opportunity to read the Canadian Bar Association's brief, but a number of the elements you mentioned are very similar to what may be found in it. I have some questions for you, just to make sure that I have completely understood what you said.
Essentially, you are saying that a few small questions remain about the narrower definition of “police officer”, though the court did not express an opinion about it. The wording does not clearly state that it could not apply to certain persons. I do not know if you have had the opportunity to see the testimony of the minister and of the Department of Justice officials, but they mentioned that it does not apply to security guards, for example. The fact remains that there may be a need to restrict the definition.
Would you see a major problem if it were accepted as is? As a defence lawyer, do you think that accepting the definition as is would mean that you might end up in court defending cases where the definition is claimed by someone who is not a police officer in the sense of a person employed by the State to keep the public peace?