Nothing 'sweet' about polygamy
 
By Maria Hugi
Opinions
The Medical Post
 
If you are looking for the town called Bountiful in any reputable atlas, you won't find it. With a nauseating slogan, "Keep Sweet," emblazoned on signage, it is a community of about 1,000 people near Creston and the B.C.-Idaho border, many of whose inhabitants are fundamentalist Mormons and whose males have been happily practising polygamy for the past 60 years.

Allegedly polygamy must be practised in order to get into their Heaven. The dominant males blatantly and brazenly profess to multiple wives and scores of children. Young and pretty females are preferred by these alpha males who kick out any males, usually young, posing a threat. This polygamous lifestyle is, of course, underwritten by you and me as many of its "wives" and children are on welfare. Incredulous that such primitive conduct could in any way be legally tolerated by our society, I immediately took a look at the Criminal Code. Much to my relief, I found Section 293. (1) Every one who (a) practises or enters into or in any manner agrees or consents to practise or enter into

(i) any form of polygamy, or

(ii) any kind of conjugal union with more than one person at the same time, whether or not it is by law recognized as a binding form of marriage, or

(b) celebrates, assists or is a party to a rite, ceremony, contract or consent that purports to sanction a relationship mentioned in subparagraph (a)(i) or (ii), is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years.

To date, no Bountiful male has been jailed. Why? Because, as my lawyer friends try to explain to me, these males have snubbed the law by taking refuge for their bad behavior in the Charter of Rights. In the Charter we are promised fundamental freedoms of conscience, religion, thought, belief, opinion and expression. In addition we are promised freedom of assembly and association, and preservation and enhancement of our multicultural heritage.

This Charter shall be interpreted in a manner consistent with the preservation and enhancement of the multicultural heritage of Canadians.

Apparently the Criminal Code is subject to the Charter of Rights and the residents of Bountiful might argue that they are a cultural minority, that polygamy is part of their culture and religion and they expect Canada, through the Charter, to preserve their heritage and protect them from discrimination.

According to my lawyer friends, the Attorney General's office is reluctant to prosecute because Section 293 of the Criminal Code may violate the Charter. Meanwhile, civil rights of the females and outcast males in that community are being egregiously violated.

My great fear is that, under the guise of preservation of multiculturalism and freedom of religion, immigrants from cultures and fundamentalist religions that view women as chattel, advocate female circumcision, practise bigamy, stoning and beheading, tolerate harems and slavery, spawn tribal and ethnic hatred will cite the Bountiful example and feel empowered. In my opinion, it is imperative that these Bountiful males be prosecuted and reigned in by the law, even if it leads to an amendment of the Charter. The Charter, after all, is a very young document, created in 1982, and needs a lot of further scrutiny.

Polygamy in Bountiful is also perturbing from a medical and public health point of view. It has given rise to an unhealthy, incestuous gene pool where everyone is related and the kids look alike. Very few, if any, ever make it to university, least of all the women. Granted going to university and getting an education (a basic human right) may be viewed as an anathema by that society.

There is a saying that goes something like this—if you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything. Much as I love this country with its utterly tolerant and generous spirit, I worry that we are far too concerned with molly-coddling every disparate interest group, culture, religion and lifestyle. For fear of offending we seem hell-bent on sacrificing our core values and identity. And rather than protecting individual freedoms, our Charter of Rights is providing loop-holes to legitimize uncivilized behavior. It's time to take a stand and just say "no" to polygamy.

Maria Hugi is an emergency physician in Vancouver.
 
MedicalPost.com
Originally published May 31, 2005
 
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