Blackmore seeks funds for polygamy hearing

One of the spiritual leaders from a B.C. polygamous community says he needs hundreds of thousands of dollars in government money to participate in a court review of Canada's polygamy law in a case his lawyer argued Friday will put him and his community of Bountiful on trial.

Winston Blackmore, who police believe has 19 wives and more than 100 children, is asking the B.C. Supreme Court to award him cash and special standing in a constitutional reference case examining the federal law that prohibits multiple marriages, saying he won't participate if his request isn't granted.

Without Blackmore's involvement, it will be impossible for the judge hearing the case to adequately assess polygamy, the impact it has on the residents of Bountiful and how the current law affects them, lawyer Joe Arvay told the Vancouver hearing.

"This reference is essentially going to put Mr. Blackmore and his congregation on trial," said Arvay. "The role that Mr. Blackmore will play in this case is a role that only he can play. The most important evidence you're going to hear in this case is what happens in Bountiful."

Blackmore and another leader in Bountiful, James Oler, were each charged last year with practising polygamy. The pair lead separate, divided factions within the fundamentalist offshoot of the Mormon church, which renounced polygamy more than a century ago. However, a judge later threw out the case because of how the province used special prosecutors to charge the men.

Charter ruling requested

Rather than appealing that decision, the provincial government asked the B.C. Supreme Court to decide whether the federal law banning polygamy violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Sending the reference to the B.C. Supreme Court rather than the Court of Appeal will allow much more evidence to be heard, similar to a trial.

Legal observers have predicted the case will end up in the Supreme Court of Canada. Arvay said while the province claims the case will examine polygamy across the country, he notes that most of the B.C. attorney general's arguments filed with the court along with affidavits filed by more than a dozen interveners deal with Bountiful.

"Who is the target? It's clearly the FLDS [Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints]; it's clearly Bountiful," he said. "If it is not exclusively about polygamy as practised in Bountiful, it is almost exclusively about this community."

Arvay also argued Blackmore has a particular interest in the case because if the court upholds the polygamy law, the province will inevitably prosecute him and Oler.

Province rebuts Blackmore argument

A lawyer for the province, Craig Jones, rejected Arvay's claim that the reference case was going to focus solely on Bountiful, calling it a "selective reading" of the government's submissions. Jones said the province objects to any organized form of polygamy that leads to child brides and so-called "lost boys," a term used to describe young men who cannot find partners because too many women have already been married off.

He said the government will be using examples from India, Muslim countries and other FLDS communities in the United States. In fact, Jones said the province's written submissions only mention Bountiful by name twice.

"The FLDS and these communities are perfect examples about what we're trying to prove [that polygamy is harmful]," said Jones. "I still expect the majority of evidence to be outside Bountiful."

When it comes to Bountiful, the province argues Blackmore will have ample opportunity to present his case as an intervener. Oler has already been named an intervener, as have more than a dozen groups including civil liberties proponents and women's and children's rights advocates.

But Arvay said Blackmore and Oler lead separate congregations, and the practices of Oler's followers don't necessarily reflect those who follow Blackmore. Oler's lawyer agreed with that point. Arvay said in order to properly argue why the polygamy laws violate his right to religious freedom, Blackmore needs the powers that come with full status which will grant him a similar role in the hearings as government lawyers and B.C. government funding to pay for it.

Arvay asked for the court to award a rate of about $250 an hour, covering about half his legal fees. He estimated the final bill will be "several hundred thousand dollars," which he said Blackmore cannot afford on his own.

The RCMP first began investigating allegations of polygamy and sexual abuse in Bountiful in the 1990s, although prosecutors repeatedly shied away from laying charges out of fear the law would be declared unconstitutional.

The provincial government was told by several legal experts including a special prosecutor that it should launch a reference case to test whether the law violates the charterrather than lay charges. Instead, the province appointed yet another special prosecutor, who charged the men in January of 2009.

The B.C. Supreme Court later threw out those charges, concluding the attorney general's decision to appoint a second special prosecutor left "the perception, if not the reality, of political interference and of an oppressive or unfair prosecution."