Free Bountiful’s men and women

By Jean M. Gerber The Canadian Jewish News

I think I will become the leader of a new faith, based on the conviction that in order to be saved, I marry at least three husbands. I will build my compound in eastern Ontario. Children will attend school up to Grade 6 (for boys) and maybe a little more for the girls, who, masters of the faith, need only to acquire at least three husbands to qualify for eternal bliss. I will expel excess girls to the small town nearby, and since they will have minimal life skills, and lack the regulation three or more husbands, they will begin turning tricks to survive. No non-believing outsiders will be allowed in. To leave is to damn one’s eternal soul. When I need a new young stud – er, husband – I will order one from across the border where other groups with similar philosophies live. My only regret is that, unlike British Columbia, Ontario will not pay for the children’s schooling (in British Columbia the Independent Schools Act entitles private schools to public funding). Or one day I could just move to B.C., where polygamy and strict adherence to the teachings of the leaders, flourishes. Whoa, you say. What’s all this? Bountiful, near Creston B.C., harbours a cult. One faction is led by Winston Blackmore, a second by Warren Jeffs, both self-styled prophets of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. (This sect is in no way connected to the mainstream Mormon church, which banned polygamy in 1890.) The men marry as many wives as possible, and produce dozens of children with all those wives. They reportedly marry girls well under legal age and bring in wives from the U.S. branch of the same church. They receive money for their paltry schooling from our provincial government. The women of Bountiful are prisoners, bound to a cult masquerading as a legal religious option in a multicultural society. The polygamists claim they are a distinct society in which polygamy is the only route to salvation. Hooey. This is a cult that is breaking Canada’s laws against polygamy and maybe underage sex. Period. Strange, is it not, that guys get all the goodies and women get to share their husbands with multiple so-called sister-wives – way more than the required three – and children grow up without a father? Horrifying that boys – like male animals exiled from the pride because they threaten the alpha male – are dumped on city streets and left to fend for themselves. They usually end up living on the streets. Some women have broken away from the group, and we have their courageous public testimonies about what is going on in Bountiful. A few men, born there and exiled to keep the challenges to the powerful leaders in check, also have spoken out. Now what has this all got to do with freedom and independence, the underlying themes of Passover and Yom Ha’atzmaut? Well, for modern-day bondage, just go to Bountiful. We may not be able, as Canadians and Jews, to immediately and directly affect the outcome of wars and famine on the African continent or in Asia. But we can start at home. And at home, the men of Bountiful are cocking a snoot at our laws. B.C.’s (soon to be retired) attorney general has refused to even investigate the allegations of child trafficking and the admitted practice of polygamy. Our federal justice minister, Irwin Cotler, on April 14 on CBC radio, was very explicit in speaking about trafficking: Canada’s policy is, and I quote, "Protection, prosecution, prevention." So I call on him, and on our community, to ask for protection for the “lost boys” ousted from this cult. For prosecution of polygamists. And for prevention of this odious cult from continuing to share our country while flouting its laws. I call on the federal government to enforce the law, to go to Bountiful, to investigate, and to proceed to remove these people from our midst. Maybe the cult can move to Ontario. At least they won’t get money for their schools. And instead of hiding in a small rural corner of our country, they could live in the Golden Horseshoe, under the glare of full disclosure of their activities. Until everyone is free, no one is free.

cjnews.com Originally published May 11, 2005

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