B.C. Upholds Polygamy Ban

The ruling could mean an end to the polygamist way of life in Bountiful, B.C.

The B.C. Supreme Court has upheld Canada's laws banning the practice of polygamy. Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert Bauman issued his ruling on the matter today, months after the court heard from residents of the Mormon compound Bountiful, B.C., psychologists, civil-liberties groups, and more. The provincial government of British Columbia had asked the court to determine the legality of polygamy laws after numerous reports of sexual and physical abuse in Bountiful, where the adherents of a Mormon subsect have carried out the practice of having multiple wives for years. The crux of the hearing was whether or not polygamy laws unfairly infringed on religious freedom; Bauman determined that they did not. Bauman said that his biggest concern with the laws as they stand now is that they criminalize women under the age of 18 who are often forced into polygamous relationships, but he only recommended that that provision be taken under consideration. As to why this ruling is important, Jonathan Kay of the National Post gives a good overview:

In many cases – imprisoned American polygamist Warren Jeffs provides a recent example – the ostensibly religious trappings of polygamous life are really a mask for male sex addiction and pedophilia. This is why polygamous communities tend not only to be virtual prisons for brainwashed women, but also very unpleasant domains for many young men, who are regarded by the aging patriarchs as aspirant competitors for the fixed supply of nubile women. Those who drive in the environs of the B.C. polygamous community of Bountiful (whose existence explains why this litigation originated in B.C., not some other province or territory) often see scraggy male teenagers trying to hitch a ride to town, having been thrown out of their community once they began vying for female attentions. And yet the B.C. government has done little to criminally investigate the goings on in Bountiful – including crimes of abuse – because provincial officials have been intimidated by the prospect that the community’s underlying creed of polygamy would be protected under the Charter.