Want to protect girls? Start with those in Bountiful

Reading the Oct. 10 op-ed, “Why Day of the Girl matters to Canada” by Carine Guidicelli, leaves a bitter taste in the mouths of those who for the last 15 years have been urging our successive provincial governments to charge polygamist Winston Blackmore with impregnating 10 underage girls and trafficking many others between Canada and the U.S.

Yes, Canada must help the girls of Third World countries where human rights have been denied to females. But the human rights of the women and children of the polygamous community of Bountiful have also been grievously contravened. By male decree, the females of Bountiful have been reduced to the status of concubines in the elders’ harems, so that Bountiful itself resembles a Third World country.

Polygamy contravenes Canadian law, as does forced marriage and the sexual exploitation of underage girls. So does trafficking Bountiful’s females to fundamentalist Mormon compounds in the U.S., and trafficking American girls into Bountiful. There is also the cruel practice of forcing teenage boys out of Bountiful to leave more concubines for the elders.

Guidicelli writes that on Oct. 11 the world will recognize the human rights of the girl children of the world. When will our various levels of Canadian government recognize the human rights of the women and children of Bountiful?

Jancis Andrews, West Vancouver