A win for those who want to halt abuses at Bountiful

Vancouver Sun - August 21, 2007

Activists don't get all they want from Victoria, but it's a start
by Daphne Bramham


Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Children in all independent schools in B.C. may soon get a more balanced education. People leaving the polygamous community of Bountiful may find it easier to get the help they need. And Attorney-General Wally Oppal may come under even more pressure to ask the courts to rule on the constitutionality of the anti-polygamy law.

It's all because of a small group of seemingly indefatigable women who complained two years ago to the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal that the provincial government has discriminated against all women, but specifically against the female members of the fundamentalist Mormon community in Bountiful.

The women contended that the government had failed to enforce the law that forbids polygamy and failed to provide Bountiful's girls and women with equal access to services.

The women didn't get all that they asked for.

But they got something despite the provincial government doing all that it could to stop their complaints from being heard.

What they got was an agreement spelling out that:

- Premier Gordon Campbell and the cabinet will be advised by their own officials that the Independent School Act does not prohibit taxpayer-funded schools from discriminating against women and girls, yet it does forbid racial discrimination.

The majority of the government-accredited and -funded schools are operated by a variety of religious groups.

They are allowed to teach religion and they are allowed to filter the rest of the provincial curriculum -- whether science, literature or history -- through their religious doctrine as long as they are not fostering doctrines of "racial or ethnic superiority or persecution, religious intolerance or persecution, social change through violent action, or sedition."

What's surprising is that sexual discrimination was not included when the act was written in 1985 or when it was amended earlier this year. The Independent School Act -- like all Canadian laws -- is supposed to comply with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which has a separate section on women's equality.

- The government will provide funds for basic crisis intervention training for interested members of the Bountiful community as well as an information package that includes listings for all government services (from counselling to safe houses) available to people exiting the community.

Susie Palmer, a teacher who has only recently left the closed community, has agreed to work with a community services social worker to do that and get the get material distributed through the two private schools.

- The government will maintain the current level of services to the Bountiful community, "nurture trust and develop relationships" within the community and work to refine the way those services are delivered to residents of the closed and secretive community.

"I feel we've really achieved something," said activist Jancis Andrews, one of the complainants.

"We've created a good foundation stone for the government and other groups to build on whereby all of the abuses can be stopped . . . although it will possibly take years to accomplish."

The complainants included: former resident Debbie Palmer; Andrews; and, Audrey Vance and Linda Price, the co-chairs of Creston-based Altering Destiny Through Education. During the two days of meetings with the government, the complainants got advice from Jane Blackmore, a midwife and ex-wife of one of Bountiful's leaders Winston Blackmore, and from Susie Palmer, who taught at Blackmore's Mormon Hills School until this spring and is one of the plural wives of Blackmore's 'bishop,' Duane Palmer.

Andrews and the others were disappointed that there is no way to force Attorney-General Wally Oppal to enforce the polygamy law or the laws against sexual abuse of children even though Winston Blackmore, one of the religious leaders in the community, admits to having many wives including several who were only 15 or 16 when he impregnated them.

In 2006 the government went to court, which said the tribunal had no jurisdiction over the attorney-general's ministry or any decisions involving what is called "prosecutorial discretion."


Prosecutorial discretion is exercised in decisions such as the one made two weeks ago -- based on a recommendation from special prosecutor Richard Peck -- that no charges be laid against men from Bountiful in spite of the recommendations of the RCMP following an investigation begun in 2004.

In another case, the province succeeded in having the tribunal's powers narrowed so that it can rule only on personal complaints, not third-party complaints. That took away the tribunal's power to hear the complaints involving the remaining three ministries. However, it was left with the ability to attempt a mediated settlement between the complainants and the government.

Two days of mediation late last week resulted in the agreement, details of which were released Monday.

Judith Doulis, the complainants' lawyer, called it a positive outcome in a "very difficult situation where no one can say you have to do this or you have to do that. . . . They [the complainants] did what they could and hopefully it will assist people [in Bountiful] who want to make a lifestyle change."

The government made sure that the women couldn't get what they wanted. But they got something. It's another sign that more than 60 years after the breakaway sect set up camp in British Columbia that slowly, ever so slowly, the politicians and the bureaucrats are being pushed and prodded into finally living up to their responsibilities of care for the women and children.

dbramham@png.canwest.com

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