Victoria given green light to pursue polygamy case
The leader of a Mormon breakaway sect in southeastern British Columbia has lost a bid to derail the province’s recurrent attempts to convict him of polygamy.
This is the latest development in a decades-long string of investigations and failed efforts at prosecution connected to the isolated community of Bountiful, which has become synonymous with polygamy in Canada.
On Thursday, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Austin Cullen dismissed a petition from Winston Blackmore to have this latest charge quashed.
Blackmore is formally accused of having 24 marriages, though the court heard after that indictment was filed against him that he married 25 women between 1975 and 2001.
In a petition to the court earlier this month, Blackmore’s lawyer Joe Arvay argued that the province acted inappropriately by appointing a series of special prosecutors beginning in 2007 until finding one who would recommend legal action against the fundamentalist leader.
Arvay had successfully used the same argument to convince the court to dismiss the province’s previous attempt at prosecuting Blackmore in 2009.
B.C.’s Ministry of Justice appointed special prosecutor Richard Peck in 2007 to explore the option of pressing charges against Blackmore. While Peck confirmed the harmful effects of polygamy, he chose not to recommend prosecution and instead urged the province to ask for legal clarification.
The province followed Peck’s recommendation to pose a reference question to the court only after a later attempt to find an independent official who would charge Blackmore failed under the allegation that B.C. was “shopping” for special prosecutors.
When contacted Thursday, Arvay declined to comment and said Blackmore was considering his options.