Wild About Writing

The dismissal of polygamy charges against the two leaders of a Mormon fundamentalist sect in Bountiful, B.C., puts the British Columbia government in a quandary.

An appeal could uphold the decision of Madam Justice Sunni Stromberg-Stein that the B.C. Attorney General at the time, Wally Oppal, had improperly interfered in the justice system by “prosecutor shopping” for someone who would go forward with charges against self-admitted polygamists Winston Blackmore and James Oler.

Alternatively, the government could ask the B.C. Court of Appeal to make a ruling on whether Canada’s polygamy law is constitutional. Blackmore argues that it violates the Charter of Rights by denying his religious freedom — in this case, to take multiple wives.

The evils of Bountiful are well described in Daphne Branham’s Secret Lives of the Saints: Child Brides and Lost Boys in Canada’s Polygamous Mormon Sect (Random, House of Canada).

No one has more zealously pursued this story of victimization and religious extremism than Ms. Branham, a long-time Vancouver Sun reporter.

Justice Stromberg-Stein’s decision has sent shock waves through the anti-polygamy movement. Nancy Mereska, the Alberta leader of Stop Polygamy in Canada, says she’s “absolutely devastated.”

It’s important to remember that the decision has nothing to do with the merits of the charge itself. The judge has made no finding in that regard. She dealt with a procedural issue, namely whether or not the Attorney General was within his rights to recruit a third special prosecutor after two previous ones had declined to prosecute. They were of the view that it would be impossible to obtain a conviction because of the Charter of Rights guarantee of religious freedom.

I recall discussing this issue with Mr. Oppal for an article I wrote for The National Post a couple of years ago. He told me at the time he was convinced that polygamy charges could be made to stick. There’s a huge file of academic and legal opinion that the practice of polygamy is discriminatory and oppressive and is a violation of international laws that Canada has vowed to uphold.

It’s been almost half a century since Mormon fundamentalists from Alberta moved into B.C.’s remote Creston Valley and set up a religious colony called Bountiful. It’s a beautiful part of the world — I spent my boyhood there and nature is truly bountiful in its gifts of climate, soil and spectacular scenery.

The fact polygamy has survived largely untouched by outside laws speaks to something in the Canadian character of tolerance and acceptance. It’s also testament to the economic clout of Bountiful, which has fed a constant stream of commerce into what might otherwise be a depressed area.

But facts remain. Polygamy is against Canadian law. Religious-based polygamy (is there any other kind?) involves oppressive brain-washing, usually accompanied by sexual abuse, of young females.

B.C. needs to put an end to the charade of legality that surrounds Bountiful. Is Canada a country to be governed by religion or by reason? Blackmore and Oler must be prosecuted. And our laws must be reformed, if necessary, to put an end to religious abuse of the civil rights of young and defenseless Canadians.