Canada polygamy sect leaders sentenced to house arrest

By Danya Hajjaji

 

FILE PHOTO: Winston Blackmore, who is accused of having two dozen wives, arrives at the BC Supreme Court in Cranbrook, British Columbia, Canada July 24, 2017. REUTERS/Todd Korol/File Photo

 

TORONTO (Reuters) - Two British Columbia men were sentenced to house arrest on Tuesday for having multiple wives, a lawyer for one of the men said, in what CBC News reported was Canada's first convictions for polygamy in more than a century.

 

Winston Blackmore and James Oler were sentenced to six and three months of house arrest, respectively, the lawyer said. They were convicted on one count of polygamy each last July.

 

Both men are former bishops of the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints, a breakaway Mormon sect within Bountiful, a religious community in southeastern British Columbia.

 

Blackmore's defence lawyer, Blair Suffredine, said he thought the sentence was "a little higher" than he had hoped it would be but "not dramatically unreasonable."

 

Suffredine said that Justice Sherry Anne Donegan "found it aggravating" that Blackmore continued practicing polygamy after 2011, when the British Columbia Supreme Court decided to uphold Canada's laws prohibiting polygamy.

 

Suffredine said his client found himself in a dilemma between abandoning his large family and continuing to break the law.

 

Oler was not represented by a lawyer.

 

Blackmore married 24 women between 1990 and 2014, according to court documents. Canadian media reported that he has fathered at least 146 children.

 

Oler wed five women between 1993 and 2009, according to court documents.

 

Blackmore will serve his time in his Bountiful home, while Oler will likely be under house arrest in Alberta, where he lives, Suffredine said.

 

Their sentences will be followed by 12 months probation, with 150 hours of community service for Blackmore and 75 hours for Oler, Suffredine added.

 

Under Canadian law, the maximum penalty for polygamy is five years in jail.

 

The men previously entered not guilty pleas, with Blackmore's defence counsel arguing that the polygamy law violated Bountiful community members' religious rights.

 

Under Canada's century-old polygamy law, the British Columbia government has been weighing prosecution since the early 1990s against members of the Bountiful community of 1,500 residents.

 

Despite multiple police investigations into claims of abuse in the community, it had declined to pursue polygamy charges because of concerns that doing so would violate constitutional freedom of religion.

 

In 2011, the British Columbia Supreme Court affirmed that laws banning polygamy were constitutional and did not violate religious freedom.

 

The mainstream Utah-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints abandoned polygamy in 1890. The church sued Blackmore in 2014 for using its trademarked name, citing damaged reputation.

 

(Reporting by Danya Hajjaji)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-06-27

Should have come to Australia changed your religion and the Government would have paid you your wives and children !

 

Sentenced to the bedroom

I can see prosecuting someone if the wives didn't know about each other, or if they marry underage girls, or the resulting children are neglected or abused. 

 

But I can't see how society benefits by prosecuting someone for being in a 100% consensual and fully disclosed relationship with several willing and fully informed adults.

 

That is, other than placating a bunch of religious busybodies who just can't stand to see someone happily practicing a different set of beliefs.  (Or maybe an incel not getting his fair share of the chicks)

 

He should have taken multiple Thai wives, lived with them in Thailand, paid the girls 20000 baht a month each to keep them sweet, no questions asked, all perfectly acceptable and no questions asked.

Time to change the law. These court cases have gone on for many years (2009) against Blackmore. Likely at a very high cost into the $1m's to taxpayers. When the court gave a sentence of house arrest it should indicate that it doesn't consider this crime as very serious. He was the grand pooh bah of that church with 27 wives and 145 kids. Your not going to find anyone who is a bigger poster boy for polygamy and he gets a slap on the wrist? That says bad law.

Edited June 27, 20188 yr by pegman

4 hours ago, cyberfarang said:

He should have taken multiple Thai wives, lived with them in Thailand, paid the girls 20000 baht a month each to keep them sweet, no questions asked, all perfectly acceptable and no questions asked.

"To keep them sweet, ........." Good luck with that, 555!

16 hours ago, webfact said:

Canada polygamy sect leaders sentenced to house arrest

Surely having just one wife is punishment enough.

 

6 hours ago, Proboscis said:

What kind of troll are you?

 

Fake news! The true facts are that ALL people of whatever faith or religion or none are subject to the law, including the law on polygamy. Those men who try to immigrate to Canada with more than one wife find that it is impossible.

 

In fact, the law is written is such an even way that according to legal experts it could be applied to those folks who live together polygamously or polyandrously but are not married.

 

Yes, I happen not to agree with a law that gets into your bedroom. Full stop. But you cannot say that in Canada that it is one law for Muslims and another law for everyone else. That is just plain false. Got it?

Unfortunately, it is true. There is only one official wife and the second and sometimes third are ex-wives that live under the same roof. A few years ago there was an honor killing where the living arrangements were as I describe. The family emigrated to Canada in this family unit. Husband, divorced wife, second (current official wife) kids from both women. There are plenty of ways around the law. (Which is under review) The recent supreme court case recognizing three individuals being the legally recognized parents of a baby. One woman, two men living a plural marriage. This case is a big fat nothing waste of taxpayers money. The problem is many of the women involved in these Morman communities are underage. This guy gets house arrest. A big fat nothing as far as I am concerned.

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