Since 1990 the religious community of Bountiful BC has been a concern for citizens, law enforcement and government.

Background

Following the release of a Justice Report, the BC prosecutor has decided to pursue none criminal charges and pursue another avenue that may wind up in the Supreme Court of Canada.

Oppal asked for a special prosecutor to look into the case in May after a months-long review by his ministry’s criminal justice branch concluded there was no likelihood of any conviction on the charges.

Richard Peck agreed that convicting members of Bountiful on sex charges was unlikely.

In his report, released Wednesday, he said he also examined whether the community was in violation of any education laws.

He couldn’t find much.

Peck said it’s time to find out once and for all if Canada’s laws against polygamy will stand.

“I have come to the conclusion that polygamy itself is at the root of the problem,” he wrote.

“Polygamy is the underlying phenomenon from which all the other alleged harms flow and the public interest would best be served by addressing it directly.”

Members of the colony, located in southeastern B.C., belong to a breakaway sect of the Mormon church and believe that in order to get into heaven, men must marry as many women as possible.

Governments may refer legal questions to a court without anyone actually being charged.

see decison at Religion News Blog

The Apologetics Index has answers to several questions about different types of marriage. Introduction. Legal issues around polygamy. What groups pracise it and why. What the bible says. Resources.