| Polygamists claim religious persecution | |||
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By Daphne Bramham Vancouver Sun | |||
BOUNTIFUL -- Canada's best-known polygamist family went on the offensive Tuesday in the wake of last week's massive media coverage of polygamist Warren Jeffs being placed on the FBI's 10 most-wanted list for sexual offences involving under-age girls. Winston Blackmore -- patriarch of a family that includes more than 20 wives and more than 103 children -- held a news conference on his driveway at the entrance of Bountiful to accuse both RCMP and Canada Citizenship and Immigration of unfairly treating them and discriminating against them because of their religious beliefs. Their principal belief -- often just called "the principle" -- is that men must have three or more wives to be eligible to enter the highest realm of heaven or the celestial kingdom. Blackmore and his wives talked about how they have been targeted because of their openness to talk to officials, unlike many of their neighbours here who follow Jeffs and have cut off all contact with non-believers and especially the police. On one side of Blackmore at a long table decorated with a dandelion chain woven by his daughter Elsie were two of Blackmore's American wives, Leah Barlow and Ruth Lane, who launched an attack on the RCMP. Lane claimed that officers had obtained information from them under false pretences and had violated their rights. "They showed up on our doorstep," Barlow said. "We had the idea that we had nothing to hide and nobody told us we didn't have to talk to them. ... We didn't know this was all about gathering evidence against the person we love most. We are very angry and felt violated. ... Some of the questions they were asking were inappropriate." The patient records of Barlow, a midwife, have been seized by RCMP. The RCMP has also collected DNA samples from Blackmore, his wives and children to establish paternity -- something the 49-year-old Blackmore says he has never denied. He has always signed his children's birth certificates. RCMP spokesman John Ward said he couldn't speak to the specifics. But he said in the course of an investigation, officers ask all kinds of questions. But officers are required to tell people before they take their statements that they do not have to say anything. And although the RCMP say the investigation is still underway, Blackmore believes he will soon be charged with polygamy even though Attorney-General Wally Oppal has repeatedly said that the investigation is into sexual offences and, in particular, sexual exploitation. But Blackmore said he couldn't be charged with sexual exploitation. Even though he was bishop of Bountiful before Warren Jeffs excommunicated him from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, he said: "I had no authority." Blackmore also suggested that it was the women and girls who chose him. Three more of Blackmore's American wives were at the news conference. Edith Barlow, Marsha Chatwin and Zelpha Chatwin have been ordered to leave Canada, having failed to satisfy Citizenship and Immigration that they meet the criteria for immigration under humanitarian and compassionate grounds. The three -- who have been in Canada on visitor visas long enough to have borne 16 of Blackmore's children -- believe that they were discriminated against because their belief that practising polygamy is the only way to reach the highest realm of heaven. Polygamy is illegal in Canada and in the United States. And while it is rarely prosecuted in either country, at about the same time that Blackmore was telling reporters here that his right to practise polygamy is protected by the Charter of Rights' guarantee for freedom of religion, the Utah Supreme Court upheld the anti-bigamy law. The Utah court said that state and U.S constitutions do not shield polygamous practices from prosecution. Yet, both Barlow and Zelpha Chatwin admit they don't qualify as skilled workers under CIC regulations nor has Zelpha been able to qualify for a student visa. Their requests for humanitarian and compassionate entrance were among the nearly 1,000 others filed every year in B.C. alone. All three plan to appeal to the Federal Court of Canada. Blackmore and his wives filed a complaint with Citizenship and Immigration about the official who interviewed them in Cranbrook and have received a response that their complaint will be investigated and treated seriously. CIC spokeswoman Lois Reimer confirmed that CIC is investigating and she said the women can also include that in their case if they go to the Federal Court. Blackmore clan members are trying every avenue to keep their very large extended family together. They've even contacted the U.S. consulate in Vancouver, but not to ensure citizenship for the mothers' children. Instead, Blackmore says they've asked the American government to ensure the mothers' equal treatment by Immigration Canada and citizens service director Stuart Wilson has agreed. Reached by telephone, Wilson said his job is to act for any American citizen to make sure that they are getting fair treatment. So what he is doing for the Bountiful mothers is nothing out of the ordinary. Ironically, the fact that most of the American mothers in Bountiful are not legally married makes it easier for their children to claim U.S. citizenship because Wilson says the American citizenship law favours single mothers. Shockingly, Wilson estimated that between a third and a half of Bountiful's 1,000 or more residents are American or eligible for American citizenship. There are so many of them that he will be visiting Bountiful on June 1 to document them and offer advice to mothers about whether their children are eligible for citizenship. Two of the activists that the Blackmore clan blames for their problems showed up to the press conference. And while Audrey Vance and Debbie Quesnel verbally sparred with Blackmore and some of his wives over whether anybody born into a religion that preaches polygamy is able to make a free choice to become a plural wife, there was one slim point of agreement. None of this would be happening -- the deportation of mothers, the search for Warren Jeffs, the RCMP investigation into community elders having sex with young girls -- if governments on both sides of the border had acted sooner. The problem is, they will never agree on what the governments should have done or what they should do now. dbramham@png.canwest.com | |||
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canada.com Originally published Wednesday, May 17, 2006 | |||
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