Mormon leader Brigham Young

The controversy at the community - run by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) - has its roots in the 19th century.

Prominent Mormon leader Brigham Young was a keen proponent of polygamy. His church renounced the practice in 1890; FLDS leaders have perpetuated it.

Authorities have been investigating the community for about 15 years, but have yet to lay a charge. Prosecutor Richard Peck will review the file and advise the provincial government on whether the federal law forbidding polygamous marriage can survive a constitutional challenge.

B.C. Attorney General Wally Oppal told a news conference in Victoria in early June that authorities have been warned the law against polygamy might be ruled unconstitutional.

It is expected the FLDS will argue it has a 'religious right,' based on the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, to practice polygamy.

Doug Cryer, director of public policy for the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC), sees two main concerns about Bountiful.

The first relates to allegations that teenage girls with limited education are pushed into marriages with much older men when they are too young to give "informed consent." There are also unproven allegations that girls as young as 14 have been married.

A second problem is that younger men, in competition for brides with the older community leaders, often are unable to marry. Many end up leaving the community.

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The EFC has intervened to defend the religious rights of non-Christian groups in the past - such as Sikhs' right to carry a kirpan and Jews' right to erect prayer huts.

When asked how the EFC might view the claim of a religious right to practice polygamy, EFC legal counsel Don Hutchinson said the Bountiful situation is not before the courts and the EFC does not make decisions or statements on hypothetical situations.

However, Cryer noted that a significant factor in this case is that polygamy is harmful to young men and women.

Both Cryer and Hutchinson said the redefinition of marriage to accommodate same-sex unions may have "opened the door" to the claim that there is a legal right to polygamy.

"Once you change the definition so that it moves away from the historical meaning of marriage," said Cryer, "there is no limit on how you can change that meaning."

Hutchinson said that, while polygamy is a crime according to federal law, marriage is a provincial matter. The B.C. Marriage Act says people under 19 can marry only with the consent of both parents; those under 16 can marry only with the consent of the courts.

However, the 'marriages' in Bountiful are performed by the FLDS bishop of the community and are not registered with the government, and are thus not legal marriages.

Therefore, Bill C-22 - which raises the age of consent for sexual activity from 14 to 16 unless there is less than five years' difference between the ages of the male and the female involved - might apply to some of the Bountiful marriages. That legislation has now passed the House of Commons. - Jim Coggins

July 2007