B.C. wants law changed to allow move on polygamists
 
By Fabian Dawson
The Province
 
The law outlawing polygamy in Canada cannot withstand a challenge under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, a new review by the B.C government has confirmed.

Attorney-General Geoff Plant said he has asked his officials to initiate talks with Ottawa to modify the Criminal Code before any prosecutions take place.

"Faced with these legal opinions we will be seeking an amendment to the Criminal Code as that is the way we have to go," he said yesterday.

In 1992, B.C. decided prosecuting polygamy was unconstitutional because it violated religious freedoms. That decision followed an RCMP investigation into two leaders of the Bountiful polygamous commune near Creston.

Plant ordered a review of that stance last summer.

The RCMP said commune leader Winston Blackmore and elder Dalmin Oler were polygamists. Blackmore then had six wives and Oler had five, and 45 kids. Oler is now dead.

Blackmore reportedly now has more than 30 wives and 80 children.
 
The Province
Originally published February 7, 2002
 
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