Leaders of the two factions in the polygamous community of Bountiful have been charged under the Criminal Code with practising polygamy.
In a sensational turn in a 20-year-old debate over the issue of polygamy in Canada, police have charged Jim Oler and Winston Blackmore.The two men were charged each with one count on Tuesday and have not yet appeared in court. Mr. Oler is charged with “practising polygamy†with two women. Mr. Blackmore’s charge relates to 20 women.
The religious community has been the subject of several police probes since the late 1980s following allegations of incest, sexual abuse, fraud, and trafficking of teenage brides across the Canada-U.S. border.
Polgamy in Canada
The CBC Fifth Estate: Bust up in Bountiful
Did underage girls from the Yearning for Zion Ranch get sent to Canada after the Texas raid?
Oler and Blackmore have been charged under section 293 of the Criminal Code. (1892, coded into law to prevent Mormons coming to Canada) It is believed the law hasn’t been used for over 70 years.
Oler is a bishop in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Blackmore says he isn’t because they expelled him in 2002 during the power struggle with ‘prophet’ Warren Jeffs.
This is an isolated sect of about 1000 people who believe men have to have at least 3 wives to get to heaven. Technically The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons) don’t recognize polygamists. They also don’t like being called Mormons, they prefer Latter Day Saints. Polygamist Mormons believe they are the true Mormons.
The Salt Lake Tribune caught this arrest story quickly.
The LDS forum chatters think plural marriage should be legal in Canada because same sex marriages are. They also think they are being religiously discriminated against because some Muslims practise polygamy.
Copy of the indictment
The Polygamist Tree
Just based on the charge of practising poligamy, I will side with the accused men.
I don’t approve of teenaged girls marrying older men. I’m against forced marriages. The men have been charged under section 293 of the Criminal Code of Canada that deals with having more than one married partner at the same time. The men have not been charged with child abuse or forceable confinement. They are charged with having more than one partner. There is nothing in 293 that deals with abusive relationships. The men may treat their wives like crap. That doesn’t matter. Men can treat women like crap in “traditional” marriages. Girls and women can be forced into traditional marriages between one man and one woman.
The fact that marriages have been traditionally between one man and one woman for centuries, and now between two men or two women, there is no reason why there can’t be a marriage among three or more adults who consent to the marriage.
I may not be comfortable with the idea of marriage among three or more adults. That’s my problem. If two adults can consent to marriage, why not three or more? We now accept inter-racial marriages and same-sex marriages. Why not consensual polygamous marriages? I use the word “consensual” in case someone brings up a marriage between a man and a goat.