VANCOUVER
— Prominent polygamist Winston Blackmore and his family could receive more than
$10,000 this month from the B.C. government in so-called dividend cheques.
Others in the polygamist community of Bountiful with fewer wives and smaller
families will receive less, but government payments could still be substantial.
The
cheques come a few weeks after Attorney-General Wally Oppal announced the
appointment of a special prosecutor to decide if Mr. Blackmore and others
should be charged with the crime of polygamy.
Mr.
Blackmore is a leader of a religious sect in southeastern B.C. that has an
undisclosed number of families. He has been reported to have more than 100
children and as many as 26 wives. In an exchange of e-mails with The Globe and
Mail, Mr. Blackmore denied reports that he had 116 children but declined to
reveal the number.
The
B.C. government is sending $100 to every man, woman and child in the province
as part of a climate-change program. The list of adults comes from income-tax
returns. The names of children come from the federal government's Canada Child
Tax Benefit program; their cheques will be mailed to their parents or primary
caregivers. British Columbians who do not pay income tax or receive a child-tax
benefit can apply directly to the provincial government for the money.
"I
am sure that the BC government will do everything possible to see to it that my
family does not get the high cheque. So it will make no difference to us
whether we be few or many," Mr. Blackmore stated during the e-mail
exchange.
Robert
Pauliszyn, a spokesman for the B.C. government program, declined to comment on
the payments to polygamists.
"I
cannot speak to specifics of any individual receiving any individual
amount," he said, adding that he could confirm the eligibility criteria
for the payment. A person must have been a resident of B.C., as of Dec. 31,
2007, to receive a cheque, he said.
Mr.
Blackmore leads one of two polygamist religious groups in the area. Jim Oler is
the leader of a group of families affiliated with the Fundamentalist Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.