| Trustee wants wives to be named on leases U.S. trustee proposes communal land in Bountiful be privatized | |
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By Robert Matas The Globe and Mail - Toronto, Ontario | |
The wives of the polygamous men in the religious community of Bountiful in southeastern B.C. will have their names added to leases and property titles for their homes if a U.S. court backs efforts to privatize the communally owned land, trustee Bruce Wisan says. "As the fiduciary, I have equal responsibility to the men and women," he said in an interview yesterday from Salt Lake City, Utah. "The FLDS religion may give women second-class status, but I cannot and will not do that," he said, referring to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. "If there is one man and three women in a house, I intend to put all equally on the lease." Mr. Wisan was appointed by a Utah court in 2005 to manage the United Effort Plan Trust, a group that holds title to the property of all FLDS members in Canada and the United States. He is involved in a court case in Utah that would end his trusteeship through a compromise settlement with the FLDS. Mr. Wisan said he had been to B.C. a few times to discuss distribution of the communal property. He tried to speak to the leaders of the community, which has split into two factions over religious differences. Winston Blackmore met with him, but those from the other group refused. However, he also met with several of Mr. Blackmore's wives. He did not speak to all of them, he said, and could not find out how many Mr. Blackmore has. "It's like pulling teeth to get the names of all the women," Mr. Wisan said. But he was told that Mr. Blackmore has wives in several different houses. "They [the properties] would be split up according to which wife lives in which house," he said. Mr. Wisan was appointed as a special fiduciary after the religion's spiritual leader, Warren Jeffs, was accused of mismanaging the trust. Judge Denise Lindberg of the Third Judicial District Court, Salt Lake County, is considering proposals from Mr. Wisan, the FLDS and the attorneys-general of Arizona and Utah. A central issue to be resolved is the distribution of homes and undeveloped land. Mr. Wisan said he and the FLDS are "miles apart." He has proposed transferring title to much of the trust's land to those who live in the homes on the properties. The FLDS wants the land to remain in communal ownership. The Canadian properties "involve unique issues which will likely require special consideration," Mr. Wisan's lawyer, Jeffrey Shields, told the court in a submission last week. "It may be appropriate to form a separate Canadian housing panel to address Canadian petitions and issues. Alternatively, it may be appropriate as part of the settlement negotiation process to negotiate specific alternative treatment for the trust's Canadian property," Mr. Shields said. "I envisage a Canadian housing board, a committee from the community, that makes the decisions about who gets which houses," Mr. Wisan said in the interview. He was not clear on whether title to the property in Canada could be transferred to private owners. If outright ownership was not possible, he would push for 99-year leases. He said the judge had not set a date for her ruling. Utah lawyer Kenneth Okazaki, who represented the FLDS in court, did not respond yesterday to a request for an interview. Audrey Vance, spokesperson for an advocacy group called Altering Destiny Through Education, was skeptical about whether recognizing the wives' interest in property would change their lives. "The only way it is good would be if the husband dies and the property turns over. But that does not happen often," she said in an interview. "I don't think it will mean anything at all." Mr. Blackmore and Jim Oler, who leads the competing faction, have been charged in B.C. with polygamy. In a new development in the criminal case yesterday, Madam Justice Sunni Stromberg-Stein of the B.C. Supreme Court indicated in a memo to legal counsel that she believes she does not have jurisdiction to rule on a submission by Mr. Blackmore's lawyer to halt the court proceedings. The judge suggested that Mr. Blackmore can get around the problem by following a different court procedure. She indicated she would be available to hear submissions on the proposed changes in the first week of September. | |
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TheGlobeandMail.com Originally published Thursday, Jul. 09, 2009 | |
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