B.C. is a safe haven for polygamists But what about the women and children?

By Daphne Bramham Vancouver Sun

Polygamy not only exists in British Columbia, the practice of keeping concubines is flourishing here. Since 1992, a parade of B.C. attorneys-general have done nothing about complaints that girls as young as 13 and 14 are being forced into polygamous marriages in Bountiful, which is near Creston, with men as much as 40 years older. They have also ignored other complaints that Canadian women and girls are being sent from Bountiful to bolster the breeding stock in polygamist colonies in the United States. They've done nothing because they believe that Canada s polygamy law is unconstitutional. This is despite a succession of federal justice ministers insisting that protections for religious freedom do not override the Criminal Code section that outlaws polygamy. The net result is polygamy's de facto legalization; legalization done without public debate and without a judge or jury. It's made B.C. a safe haven for American polygamists fleeing for fear of stepped-up prosecutions of polygamy, bigamy, child abuse and sexual assault in Utah and Arizona and afraid of the increasingly extremist views of Warren Jeffs, the new leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints or FLDS. But suddenly, the government is under increasing pressure to do something about it. Earlier this week, B.C. Attorney-General Geoff Plant was challenged by Deborah Palmer and eight other women who escaped Bountiful to do his duty and enforce the Criminal Code section on polygamy that carries a maximum penalty of five years in jail. Palmer and six other women led by Jancis Andrews of the Sechelt branch of the Canadian Federation of University Women also filed a complaint with the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal against Plant, Education Minister Tom Christensen and the leaders of Bountiful for contravening the rights of the women and children of Bountiful. And a Creston-based group called Altering Destiny Through Education sent letters to all of the members of the legislature asking them if they were aware that last year taxpayers spent $432,000 on Bountiful Elementary-Secondary School. There, children are being taught that men rule, women breed and anyone outside their sect is evil. Not a single student has graduated from Grade 12. Although the focus of these complaints is polygamy, what these disparate groups want goes far beyond that. They want to end what they believe are forced marriages, sexual slavery, sexual abuse and the cross-border trafficking of girls and women. They want the children to be educated and they want the victims of abuse to be helped. Deborah Palmer escaped Bountiful with her eight children in 1988. Although she has renounced the teachings of the breakaway sect of the Mormon Church, she remains closely connected by more than just blood to most of the 1,000 people who remain there. Palmer is not only the stepmother of former bishop Winston Blackmore, but also his sister-in-law and niece. Since leaving Bountiful, Palmer has been trying to get politicians and police to do something about alleged rape and sexual enslavement of women and girls that masquerade as religious freedom. It has been an exhausting and disappointing process for such a long time, she tells me over the phone from Saskatchewan. What B.C. attorneys-generals have concluded is that in Bountiful, rights and freedoms clash and that religious freedom takes precedence. In 1992 after Palmer laid a complaint, RCMP officers investigated and recommended charges be laid. But the crown prosecutor, supported by then-attorney general Colin Gabelman and every attorney-general since refused to prosecute. Consistently, they have sided with the sect leaders contention that polygamy is an essential part of their religion and their freedom to practise it is protected by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It s not a view shared by a succession of federal justice ministers including the current one, Irwin Cotler. They have consistently told B.C. lawmakers that the polygamy law would withstand a Charter challenge. All of this is an interesting intellectual debate as long as you don't get too fussed about the reality that Canadian girls and women in this particular community have no free choice, no chance for equality and are being treated little better than breeding cows. Palmer says girls are taught that to disobey men or to question polygamy will mean spending eternity in Hell. She says Bountiful's women and girls cannot dream of being anything more than chattels and baby-making machines. Jane Blackmore, Palmer's sister, Winston Blackmore's ex-wife and Bountiful's former midwife has publicly stated that she helped girls as young as 14 give birth. Canadian law forbids sexual relations with children younger than 14 and it is a crime for any person in a position of trust or authority to have sex with someone under 18. Palmer has given to the RCMP lists of names and birth dates of girls as young as 13 and 14 who in the past decade were allegedly taken from their families in Bountiful and shipped to one of the sect s communities in the U.S. She says she personally knows of American girls being sent to Bountiful for forced marriages as far back as 1969. Audrey Vance, a former Creston school trustee and co-chair of Altering Destiny, says most of the girls are forced to quit school after Grade 7, while few of the boys go beyond Grade 9. Although education ministry inspectors go on scheduled visits to the school and the ministry insists the provincial curriculum is being followed, former bishop Winston Blackmore swore an affidavit in B.C. Supreme Court saying that students there his own children included were being taught that Negroes came from a war in heaven. Yet the B.C. government continues to fund the school and continues to insist that the provincial curriculum is being followed.

Vancouver Sun Originally published Saturday, May 29, 2004

Back

For more information email: