Special prosecutor appointed to investigate Mormon polygamists

By Jim Coggins

The controversy at the Bountiful, B.C. 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 (pictured) was a keen proponent of polygamy; while his church later renounced the practice, FLDS leaders have perpetuated it.

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

BC Attorney General Wally Oppal told a news conference in Victoria last week that authorities have been warned that the law against polygamy might be ruled unconstitutional. It is expected the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) will argue it has a "religious right," based on the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, to practise polygamy.

The FLDS broke away from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) -- popularly known as Mormons -- after the LDS renounced polygamy in 1890.

Questions of abuse

Doug Cryer, director of public policy for the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC), said there are two main concerns about the community.

The first is 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 the girls are sometimes as young as 14 when they are married.

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

Polygamy

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 that the practise of polygamy is a religious right, Hutchinson said the Bountiful situation is not before the courts and the EFC does not make decisions or statements on hyothetical situations. However, Cryer said a significant factor in this case is that polygamy is harmful to young men and women.

Cryer pointed to the 'Declaration on Marriage' developed by EFC and signed by a number of other faith groups -- including several Muslim groups. (Polygamy is practised in some Muslim traditions.) That Declaration defines marriage as the "public covenanting together of a man and a woman in a loving, enduring and exclusive relationship through which our society may be enriched." Similarly, Hutchinson drew attention to the EFC website, which states that "Marriage is a lifelong covenant between a man and a woman."

Cryer said this means that "all other forms" of intimate relationships -- including polygamy, same-sex marriage, extra-marital sex or even serial monogamy -- "stray from the original intent of God." He conceded there are instances of polygamy in the Old Testament, but argued that doctrines should be drawn from clear biblical teaching, not from "historical narratives."

Both Cryer and Hutchinson said recent court decisions in favour of same-sex marriage 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 the 'three parents' case, in which an Ontario court ruled a child could have a second mother -- the lesbian partner of the biological mother -- in addition to two biological parents, could also open the door to polygamy. The Alliance for Marriage and the Family, a coalition which includes the EFC and several other groups, has applied for leave to appeal that decision to the Supreme Court of Canada.

Cryer noted the Declaration on Marriage states that marriage is for the benefit of society and the children that are produced by that marriage. However, he said, once marriage is defined as "a relationship that benefits adults, not children" -- as is the case with the rulings on same-sex marriage -- then there are fewer limits on what can be legal.

He added that, in a polygamy situation such as Bountiful, it is possible for a father to have "too many children to have a meaningful relationship with" -- but said this might not matter, since in recent rulings on marriage the courts have tended to allow "the rights of adults to overrule the rights of children."

Legalities

Hutchinson noted that, while polygamy is a crime according to federal law, marriage is a provincial matter, and the BC Marriage Act says people under 19 can marry only with the consent of both parents, while people 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, said Hutchison, 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 and is being considered by the Senate.

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Oppal also observed that the investigation into the Bountiful situation had been "hampered by uncooperative witnesses." Winston Blackmore told the Globe and Mail earlier this year that he doubted the authorities would ever collect enough evidence to charge him.

Since few members of the FLDS are willing to talk to authorities, it has been difficult to find proof of who has married whom, how old the brides were and whether those between the ages of 16 and 18 had the approval of their parents.

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June 14/2007