Polygamists should have the same rights and freedoms as other people
 
By Alan Ferguson
The Vancouver Province
 
My mother lived for too long in an abusive relationship, married to a drunk and a gambler who robbed his children's money boxes to play the horses.

One of the reasons she put up with him was the social stigma that, just a generation ago, attached itself to the victims of broken marriages. She did finally pluck up the courage to leave and, despite minimal support from her own Victorian-era parents, who thought she should have stuck it out, her life was immeasurably improved.

The institution of marriage has evolved dramatically over recent years, and the social acceptance of divorce has mercifully spared countless incompatible couples the agonies of prolonged cohabitation.

But the habits of a long, church-going tradition are not easily eradicated.

A majority of religious believers opposed the landmark Supreme Court of Canada ruling legalizing gay unions. By emphasizing that marriage is a "civil institution" -- not subject to the whim of church-based morality -- the ruling effectively ended religious tyranny over sexual mores, with all its hypocrisy, misery and humiliation.

In the current debate over polygamy, echoes of medieval bigotry are heard again. Our own attorney-general, Wally Oppal, is under pressure to take action against unnamed members of the 60-year-old polygamous community in Bountiful. Though polygamy is a crime in Canada, it has rarely been prosecuted.

Oppal's people tell him charges would likely fall foul of guarantees in the Charter of Rights of religious freedom and liberty.

In other words, the Charter aims to ensure that, in a pluralistic society, it is the right of a free people to live life as they see fit, provided, of course, they don't interfere with the rights of others.

Having collectively decided that two people of the same gender can be joined in matrimony, on what sound basis could we now decide that people must necessarily restrict themselves to one wife, or one husband, as the case may be?

Polygamy is quietly practised by an unknown number of Muslims in this country, for whom sharia law permits up to four wives -- and by others of no religious persuasion at all. And the TV show Big Love proves there is an audience for a polygamy-based storyline.

In the case of Bountiful, there are valid concerns about child abuse and women's "enslavement." And there is no doubt that an unpleasant stench of patriarchal despotism hangs over that community. But these are separate issues, and a thorough RCMP investigation unearthed no solid evidence on which to base charges.

Oppal has also been advised to ask the courts to rule on the validity of the polygamy law. The risk here is that it might well be overturned, leading to profound changes affecting tax and immigration legislation.

Better to leave well enough alone. The state frequently does no better in the bedrooms of the nation than did the meddling priests of old.

alan.f@telus.net
 
canada.com
Originally published Tuesday, August 14, 2007
 
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