Thank you.
Just as a general approach, certainly modelling the other provision that's there now would help with the consistency so that you are ensuring that, to the extent the existing provision has been interpreted and applied, courts will be looking to implement it in a consistent manner, and you will avoid some of the potential that may come from different language and any unintended consequences.
The other thing I would note.... I would remind the committee that section 2 of the Criminal Code does define “offender”; “accused” does not have a definition, but we know what it means. “Offender” means:
a person who has been determined by a court to be guilty of an offence, whether on acceptance of a plea of guilty or on a finding of guilt
On balance, then, if the department were asked whether there is a preference, generally we would tend to go with using the existing model, just to ensure that you more likely have consistent application of a similar provision.