![]() are up for auction, according to a classified advertisment in the Calgary Herald. One hundred per cent of shares owned by Winston Blackmore in both Church of Jesus Christ (Original Doctrine) INC. Supreme Court ruled the law was constitutional and that polygamy is a crime.Ī constitutional reference case heard that the harms of polygamy outweigh any claims to freedom of religion and include physical and sexual abuse, child brides, the subjugation of women, and the expulsion of young men, the so-called lost boys, who have no women left to marry.Shares in two companies owned by a Creston-area man convicted of polygamy are up on the auction block. Uncertainty over whether the Criminal Code section banning polygamy violated religious rights hovered over the case until 2011, when the B.C. The charges were the latest step in a series of investigations and failed attempts at prosecutions dating back to the early 1990s involving Bountiful, located in the southeastern corner of the province and close to the U.S.-Canada border. The mainstream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which is based in Utah, officially renounced polygamy in the late 19th century and disputes any connection to the fundamentalist group’s form of Mormonism.īlackmore and Oler were charged in 2014 for the second time with practising polygamy, more than two decades after allegations that members of the Bountiful community were involved in multiple marriages, sexual abuse and cross-border child trafficking. So why wasn't Blackmore charged with sexual exploitation? ![]() Daphne Bramham: Two child brides gave birth at 16.polygamist said he was doing God's work by allegedly marrying 24 women Bountiful trial spirals into battle over constitutionality of Canada’s polygamy law Crown spokesman Dan McLaughlin said that the maximum sentence for a conviction of polygamy is five years in prison. Oler guilty of practising polygamy,” she said.īoth Blackmore and Oler remain out on bail. ![]() “Having concluded the Crown has proven beyond a reasonable doubt that James Oler … practised a marriage with more than one person at the same time I find Mr. “I find that the FLDS marriage records are ultimately reliable,” Donegan said before announcing her verdict against Oler. He also argued the Crown didn’t prove Oler continuously practised polygamy between 19. The information pertained to members of the sect in the United States and Canada.ĭoyle said important events related to Oler were missing, such as his client’s elevation to presiding elder in the community in June 2004. Photo by Handout/Postmedia Newsīoth men’s lawyers argued against the credibility of evidence related to marriage and personal records seized by police from the Yearning for Zion Ranch, an FLDS church compound in Texas, in 2008. A group photo of 124 of Winston Blackmore’s 145 children. Oler was self-represented at the trial but had the services of Joe Doyle, an amicus curiae, a so-called friend of the court appointed to ensure a fair trial, though he could not offer any legal advice. The 12-day trial earlier this year heard from mainstream Mormon experts, law enforcement who worked on the investigation and Jane Blackmore, who left her former husband and the community in 2003. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. She was impartial.”īlackmore’s lawyer, Blair Suffredine, had already told the court he would launch a constitutional challenge of Canada’s polygamy laws if his client was found guilty. “There was nothing contrived or rehearsed in her answers. Blackmore confirmed that all of his marriages were celestial marriages in accordance with FLDS rules and practices.”ĭonegan praised the testimony of Jane Blackmore, calling her a highly credible and “careful” witness. He spoke openly about his practice of polygamy.”īlackmore was shown a list of his alleged wives and actually made two corrections to the details, Donegan said. Blackmore … would not deny his faith in his 2009 statement to police. Winston Blackmore arrives to hear the verdict in his polygamy trial in Cranbrook, B.C. “His adherence to the practices and beliefs of the FLDS is not in dispute,” she said, reading her written ruling in a Cranbrook, B.C., courtroom. Justice Sheri Ann Donegan said Monday the evidence proves Blackmore has been a practising member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, a breakaway Mormon sect that believes in plural marriage. The court heard that his co-defendant, James Oler, 53, had five wives.
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