Is polygamy now legal in Canada?
 It might as well be after a surprise recommendation in British Columbia
 
By Ken MacQueen
Maclean's Magazine - Toronto
CNews
 
If polygamy is illegal, but nobody wants to prosecute it, is it really a crime? The question of the legality of plural marriage is no closer to resolution in British Columbia, home of the Bountiful polygamous community, now that a special prosecutor weighed in Wednesday with his ambivalent opinion.

Prominent Vancouver lawyer Richard Peck has recommended charges not be laid against unspecified members of the Bountiful commune, where plural marriage has been openly practiced for more than 60 years. "The legality of polygamy in Canada has for too long been characterized by uncertainty," Peck wrote.

He was appointed by the provincial attorney general's ministry to render an independent opinion on whether the commune's blatant violation of Canada's longstanding anti-polygamy law should be prosecuted, or whether men in the commune could be charged for having sex with their underage wives. Peck said the "available evidence" offered little likelihood of a conviction, especially since the women in Bountiful have not stepped forward with a complaint or cooperated with investigators.

A Maclean's story in June - Polygamy: Legal In Canada - raised a furor by suggesting plural marriage was de facto legal since it was rarely if ever prosecuted. Peck's report does nothing to change, despite his warning "there is a substantial body of scholarship supporting the position that polygamy is socially harmful."

The ruling comes as a blow to B.C. Attorney General Wally Oppal who has been under heavy political pressure from child and anti-polygamy advocates to take the commune leaders to court. Peck did offer Oppal an option of finally settling the issue by seeking a court reference on the question of legality.

"Polygamy is the underlying phenomenon from which all the other alleged harms flow," Peck wrote, "and the public interest would best be served by addressing it directly."

But while Peck favored asking the court's opinion, Oppal indicated Wednesday he is still considering charges. Oppal, a former B.C. Supreme Court judge, complained to Maclean's in June that a series of legal "roadblocks" have long thwarted efforts to lay charges. "I'm quite concerned about the exploitation and all the other things that are said to be happening there," he said. But "my own personal opinions don't necessarily translate into action."

He is the latest in a series of B.C. attorneys general that have tried for more than 20 years to have charges laid. The Crown's own lawyers have said repeatedly that charges would not stick and that Canada's anti-polygamy law would likely not survive a constitutional challenge based on guarantees of freedom of religion and liberty contained in the Charter.

Members of Bountiful are part of a breakaway sect of fundamentalist Mormons who do not recognize the mainstream church's decision more than a century ago to end the practice of polygamy. But the issue extends far beyond the borders of Bountiful. Many Muslims in Canada, as well as some fundamentalist Christians and others with no religious grounding, also quietly practice polygamy.

Oppal said he doesn't buy the notion the polygamy law would be quashed in a Charter challenge, but he says he'll consider Peck's recommendations before taking further action.
 
cnews.canoe.ca
Originally published August 8, 2007
 
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