Canadian court to clarify polygamy law

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — British Columbia's Supreme Court is being asked to decide if polygamy should remain illegal in Canada, the province's attorney general announced Thursday.

Attorney General Mike de Jong said he believes polygamy is against the law and should remain so, but he said the justice system needs clarity about whether Canada's law barring multiple marriages is constitutional.

Two Canadian laws stand in contradiction: Polygamy is banned, and religious freedoms are firmly protected.

The move comes a month after a judge quashed polygamy charges against two leaders of a polygamous community in western Canada. The judge ruled the province did not have the authority to appoint a special prosecutor to consider the cases of Winston Blackmore and James Oler after previous prosecutors recommended against charges.

The government has decided to seek the British Columbia Supreme Court opinion rather than appeal that court ruling. De Jong said the case may ultimately have to be decided by the Supreme Court of Canada.

The men maintain their polygamous practices are covered by Canada's protection of freedom of religion.

Blackmore was accused of having 19 wives and Oler, three.

Phone calls to Blackmore weren't answered, and there was no immediate response to an e-mail request for comment.

Blackmore, long known as "the Bishop of Bountiful," runs an independent sect of about 400 members in the town of Bountiful. He once ran the Canadian arm of the Utah-based Fundamentalist LDS Church, but was ejected in 2003 by that group's leader, Warren Jeffs.

Oler is the bishop of Bountiful's FLDS community loyal to Jeffs. Even though many of the town's residents are related or have same last name, followers of the two leaders are splintered and are not allowed to talk with each other.

FLDS members practice polygamy in arranged marriages, a tradition tied to the early theology of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The LDS Church renounced polygamy in 1890 as a condition of Utah's statehood.

The men had petitioned the court to drop the polygamy charges, arguing that the attorney general had gone "special prosecutor shopping" until he found someone who would go ahead with charges.

Blackmore said the whole issue was resolved in 1992 when another special prosecutor decided not to proceed with charges. The case would have been the first test of Canada's polygamy laws under Canada's constitution.