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‘Bountiful wives nets criminal charges!’, ‘Hen pecked cult leaders seeks confinement!.’, and ‘Monogamy challenged in Bountiful become Butch’s bride!' No matter the heading the bottom line is two members of a religious sect known as the United Order Effort residing in the small community of Bountiful, B.C. have been charged with one count each of Polygamy. Jim Oler and Winston Blackmore, leaders of the movement were charged under Section 293(1)(a) of the Criminal Code. An indictable offense that can land the two vigorous men in prison for up to five years.

A slew of stamina jokes can be tossed around regarding these fellows, since Blackmore is purported to have 20 wives while for all of Oler ‘s efforts he was only able to procure a measly two. But the true story here will be if the prosecutors in BC will be able to convict. Charter of Rights ‘freedom of religion’ arguments aside, how can Canadian laws and our track record of our degrading moral code stand up to the public scrutiny of a trail? Because in the end, it will be the Polygamy laws that are put to the test.

The Criminal Code of Canada is a hypocritical document when it deals with offenses relating to Public Morals and Sexual Offenses. Lets just break this down and see where it takes us.

The charges of Polygamy are one that prohibits someone from being married to more than one person at a time. Subsection 293 (1)(a)(ii) states, practices or enters into or in any manner agrees or consents to practice or enter into any kind of conjugal union with more than one person at the same time whether or not it is by law recognized as a binding form of marriage. In other words, a certificate of marriage by the BC government is not needed to recognize the union as a marriage. Of course, polygamy is unlawful; therefore a government cannot ‘certify’ the union!

In order to call the union a marriage, the government has to recognize this group as a legitimate religious order giving the leaders “clergy” status in order to conduct a ceremony of marriage. The ‘church’ records would then be the certification needed to call the conjugal couple(s) married. Furthermore, witnesses would be needed to state that they saw an act of marriage performed by the church leaders. This all would come out of a closed religious sect. In the end, the government will have established this cult as a church with all the legislated rights and protections they need to continue their practices.

It was also interesting to note that no sexual or child corruption charges make up any part of the Information in the proceedings. This clearly indicates that the police investigation did not have evidence of immoral acts conducted in the home. A home that is most definitely full of children.
The hypocritical thing here is that if the marriages are not legal, then the first wife is the true wife and the rest are all adulteresses. Up until 1985 it was a Criminal Offense to commit Adultery. But now Adultery is condoned by Canada! Just don’t conduct any private ceremony before ya do the deed. If you do, then its Polygamy and you start all over again.

It brings to mind the image of an Ouroboros, a snake eating its own tail. Because that is exactly what Canada is doing with is its morality code, consuming itself in a cyclical fashion. Our moral code neither lives nor dies, it just exist, with no teeth or ethical compass.

Whether it is Adultery or Polygamy, either act destroys the fabric of a family, degrades the women involved and can corrupt the morals of children. Having polygamy unlawful in Canada is a good thing. But it was only enforceable years ago before Canada legalized adultery and softened other sexual offences. The laws that protect society in these from these acts are soft and unadministratable.

Its about time that the Criminal Code be changed in a manner that strengthens society, protects our children from moral corruption and protect each citizen from each other.

Years of erosion have stripped us of these fundamental laws. How much more erosion can we take?