Bountiful BC - [polygamy]

[Nitro]

Polygamy is illegal in Canada.

Polygamy

293. (1) Every one who

(a) practises or enters into or in any manner agrees or consents to practise or enter into

(i) any form of polygamy, or

(ii) 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, or

(b) celebrates, assists or is a party to a rite, ceremony, contract or consent that purports to sanction a relationship mentioned in subparagraph (a)(i) or (ii), is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years.

Evidence in case of polygamy

(2) Where an accused is charged with an offence under this section, no averment or proof of the method by which the alleged relationship was entered into, agreed to or consented to is necessary in the indictment or on the trial of the accused, nor is it necessary on the trial to prove that the persons who are alleged to have entered into the relationship had or intended to have sexual intercourse.
R.S., c. C-34, s. 257.

(emphasis added)

This is all well and fine except that Attorney General Wally Oppal has decided to prosecute a breakaway mormon religious community that has serious allegations of child trafficking, and child sex [age of consent was 14 at the time with provisions for persons in a position of power such as say ... the community leaders/prophets - the children were as young as 15] not for the above mentioned crimes, but for polygamy. The accused men are not denying being engaged in some form of conjugal union with more than one person at a time, however, they claim protection under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms:

2. Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms:
a) freedom of conscience and religion;
b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication;
c) freedom of peaceful assembly; and
d) freedom of association.

(emphasis added)

The story gets even more interesting as the lawyer for one of the accused has indicated to the CBC that he intends to use (presumably among other things) gay marriage as a defense.

Is polygamy morally wrong? How do we approach the Charter issue (the Charter is the highest law in the land - all other laws must be in harmony with the Charter or the notwithstanding clause be used [which has never happened])? What role, if any, has granting marriage title, rights, and responsibilities to same-sex couples changed the issue at hand?

[joeyconnick]

Actually, the notwithstanding clause has been used... 2 or 3 times, I believe. Once was in a Quebec French language case, another in... Saskatchewan? Anyway, way less often than people initially feared it would.

Your question is interesting. I'm not all that fond of the whole "freedom of religion" angle just because it seems like it gets used to beat down a lot of gay rights stuff. That being said, in theory I don't really see what's wrong with polygamy--I mean it obviously threatens some hugely normative assumptions but my issue with it in this case would be the fact that it seems to be more about abusing/manipulating young girls than about having more than one partner. And funny how with polygamy it always seems to be about 1 man with many wives, not a woman with many husbands, huh?

[Nugget]

And funny how with polygamy it always seems to be about 1 man with many wives, not a woman with many husbands, huh?

I've always been saying that polygyny is a better term for it than polygamy...