B.C. weighs charges against polygamist

JANE ARMSTRONG

Globe and Mail

June 7, 2007


KITCHENER, B.C. -- After a lengthy police probe into Canada's only polygamous community, B.C. Attorney-General Wally Oppal has appointed a special prosecutor to rule on whether criminal charges should be laid against leaders at Bountiful, a secretive sect near the U.S. border.

This wasn't the development anti-polygamist activists were hoping for, nor expected from Mr. Oppal, who has long been critical of the conduct of leaders of the Canadian branch of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Activists wanted B.C. authorities to follow the lead of U.S. officials who last year charged American FLDS leader Warren Jeffs with sex crimes for his role in arranging the marriage of a 14-year-old girl to her 19-year-old cousin. Canadian authorities believe underage girls are routinely married off to older men at the fundamentalist Mormon community of Bountiful, B.C.

For years, they have been watching the moves of Winston Blackmore, the one-time Canadian FLDS leader.

In a rare interview earlier this year at a lumberyard he owns near Creston, B.C., Mr. Blackmore told The Globe and Mail that he doubted if B.C. authorities would ever collect enough evidence to charge him.

Mr. Blackmore, who is said to have sired 100 children with more than 20 wives, said if underage girls were married at Bountiful, their parents were to blame - not him. He also claimed that Mr. Oppal has an axe to grind against him.

"This Attorney-General is nothing more than ... prejudiced, as far as I'm concerned," he said. "I think that guy has an agenda, he has a political agenda, and he's very biased. ... I think he's biased against polygamy."

Yesterday, Mr. Oppal said legal experts have warned that polygamy charges could be ruled unconstitutional. Police have also been hampered by unco-operative witnesses, he said.

"The religious rights of a particular sect or a particular person will trump any right to prosecute," Mr. Oppal told a news conference in Victoria. "In other words, there is a fundamental religious right for a person to engage in acts of polygamy. That's what's been suggested to us. I'm not so sure that's a correct legal position."

Mr. Oppal said he is concerned that women and children have been sexually exploited at Bountiful, but he won't lay charges unless he's reasonably sure they can stand up in court. To that end, he appointed Richard Peck, a top criminal lawyer, to review the file. Mr. Oppal said he hopes Mr. Peck will finish the review in about a month.

The police probe, which was completed last fall, has been reviewed by four lawyers, including the assistant deputy attorney general.

"Really what we want here is to put some kind of closure on this because it has been with us for a long time," Mr. Oppal said.

In the town of Creston, adjacent to Bountiful, anti-polygamy activists were disappointed.

Linda Price, who has been lobbying the government for years to clamp down on polygamy, said she had hoped she would be celebrating this week. She questioned the need for yet another lawyer to look at the case.

"It's time for a charge to be laid," she said.

In The Globe interview, Mr. Blackmore said his role in arranging Bountiful unions (they are not legally recognized as marriages by the provincial government) was simply to make recommendations on a pair's suitability.

"When I was in charge of a community of about 800 people, all I knew in relation to that was when two parents, the parents would come with their person and present him and their interest in wanting him to get married," Mr. Blackmore said.

"And that's all I know and I never saw anyone's birth certificates or anything, which by the way, I certainly do now ... because I'm interested, you know. But I sure didn't then."

The ousted church leader, who was excommunicated from the Utah-based FLDS, was once referred to as the Bishop of Bountiful. He has always denied allegations that he arranged for girls as young as 14 and 15 to marry older men.

Bountiful girls often marry in their teens and are taught to be obedient to their husbands. The community is the largest FLDS colony outside its U.S headquarters of Colorado City, a town that straddles the Utah and Arizona border. Residents of the two communities, especially brides, shuffle back and forth between the United States and Canada.

When asked why he didn't inquire whether girls were underage when they "married," Mr. Blackmore replied: "Here's the situation. These people, these parents, and anywhere in this country or in the United States, a 16-year-old girl [with her parents' permission] can go get married, whether they're 90, or they're same-sex in our country. And I am not going to begin to be their conscience ... all I'm saying ... is: Be old enough to make a good decision."

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