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http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/saturdayextra/story.html?id=e06ee4e8-2dca-4a8c-91e0-4dfc436d662e

IN CANADA, THE OFFENCE OF POLYGAMY HAS RARELY BEEN PROSECUTED

The Gazette
July 26, 2008

Angela Campbell

CREDIT: GLENN BAGLO VANCOUVER SUN

Bountiful children play during a news conference called by Winston Blackmore in 2006 after the RCMP paid a visit to the community.

Bountiful has drawn public and political attention in recent years, attracting extensive media coverage of the community's blatant polygamy in the face of a clear prohibition in Canada's Criminal Code against the practice.

B.C. Attorney-General Wally Oppal has commissioned three separate special investigations in the last year to assess circumstances in Bountiful, and to determine whether polygamists should be prosecuted.

Charges for bigamy or polygamy have never been laid against any member of the Bountiful community, likely because the accused would argue that the ban against plural marriage interferes unduly with his religious freedom, as guaranteed by Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Throughout Canadian history, the offence of polygamy has rarely been prosecuted and where it has, convictions have been infrequent and sentences have been light.

Every woman interviewed for this Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada-funded research project was asked: "If tomorrow morning, you woke up to learn that polygamy was decriminalized in Canada, how would your day differ than the way it is today?" The most common answer we heard was also the simplest: "It wouldn't." A few women reflected on the relief they would feel to live without the stigma of being branded a "criminal". Others said they believed that decriminalization would foster broader social acceptance of their lifestyle and reduce the hostility they occasionally encounter outside Bountiful. Some women recounted having been spat on and verbally assaulted.

These responses, and the fact that polygamy happens openly in Bountiful, despite an awareness of its criminality and of the B.C. attorney-general's interest in prosecution, suggests the looming threat of law enforcement has little influence over daily life and choices in this community.

© The Gazette - Montreal 2008

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