Polygamy Reference Case Begins

[Guest W***ledi*Time]

Daphne Bramham reports for the Vancouver Sun, 21 Nov 2010:

 

http://www.vancouversun.com/life/LANDMARK+POLYGAMY+RULING+AWAITED/3860926/story.html

 

Canada is on the cusp of either legalizing polygamy or strengthening the 120-year prohibition against multiple marriage.

 

That?s what is at stake in the constitutional reference case that will begin Monday in B.C. Supreme Court and is scheduled to last at least until the end of January.

 

The case will weigh whether Canada?s anti-polygamy law is constitutional. The reference case was initiated by B.C. attorney general Mike de Jong to finally get a clear legal lens through which to examine the fundamentalist Mormon community of Bountiful in southeastern British Columbia.

 

If Chief Justice Robert Bauman agrees with those in favour of legal

ization, Canada would be the first country in the developed world to lift the prohibition on multiple marriage. It would be swimming against a tide of criminalization in developing countries in Africa and Asia.

 

It would also likely be interpreted as Canada putting out a welcome mat for fundamentalist Mormons, who have been largely rooted out of Utah and Arizona and are under attack in Texas, as well as to Muslims, Wiccans and to secular polyamorists.

 

Still, the judge?s decision is unlikely to be the last word. Regardless of what he decides, the ruling will likely go to the B.C. Court of Appeal en route to the Supreme Court of Canada. And even if Canada?s highest court strikes down Section 293 of the Criminal Code, Parliament would still have an opportunity to remedy that, if it wished.

 

Although the case is being heard in a trial court, it is a hybrid, the first reference case that has been heard outside an appellate court.

 

It?s neither a civil case nor a criminal one. It?s neither a public inquiry nor a commission.

 

Because it?s unique, the rules are being made up as the case unfolds.

 

The reference case will have witnesses testifying to their experiences within polygamous communities, some of whom will testify anonymously or behind screens so that they aren?t subject to future prosecution based on their testimony.

 

There will also be academics testifying to their research on polygamous communities both in B.C. and around the world. And there will legal experts parsing Section 293 as well as relevant sections of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

 

Even if the polygamy section limits any of those freedoms, the judge could decide that the breach of those rights is justifiable if the practice is harmful. Or as the B.C. attorney-general?s lawyer describes it, "The main task facing this court will be assessing and weighing evidence respecting harm: the harm of polygamy versus the harm of prohibition."

 

At the heart of this case are long-standing allegations of child brides, sexual exploitation, forced marriage, abuse of public funds and human-trafficking in Bountiful.

 

It?s a community that split in 2002 over the succession within the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS). Roughly half the 1,500 people stayed with the FLDS and prophet Warren Jeffs, while the remainder continued to follow the disgraced bishop, Winston Blackmore.

 

In January 2009, Blackmore and FLDS bishop James Oler were charged with one count each of polygamy. Those charges were subsequently stayed because a B.C. Supreme Court justice determined that then-attorney-general Wally Oppal had improperly hired the special prosecutor who recommended the charges.

 

Rather than appealing that decision, Oppal?s successor ? de Jong ? filed the reference case and asked two questions:

 

? Is Section 293 consistent with the Charter? If not, why not?

? What are the necessary elements of an offence under this section? Does it require that the polygamous union involve a minor or occurred in the context of dependence, exploitation, abuse of authority, a gross imbalance of power or undue influence?

 

Like all trials, there are two sides in the reference case. But unlike criminal and civil trials, there are also interested parties, who have registered in order to be able to make opening and closing statements, file evidence, call and cross-examine witnesses.

 

The attorneys general of British Columbia and Canada will both argue in favour of the existing law. They?ll be first up when the case begins next week.

 

Their ?allies? include: Stop Polygamy in Canada, Christian Legal Fellowship, B.C. Teachers Federation, West Coast LEAF, Real Women Canada, Canadian Coalition for the Rights of the Child and the David Asper Centre for Constitutional Rights.

 

To make the opposing case, the chief justice appointed Vancouver lawyer George Macintosh as the amicus curiae ? friend of the court ? to advance the striking down of the law.

 

Allied with Macintosh are: the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Canadian Polyamory Advocacy Association, B.C. Civil Liberties Association and the Canadian Association for Free Expression.

 

The anti-polygamy argument:

 

Craig Jones is the B.C. attorney general?s lead lawyer and will be first up Monday. In his opening statement, Jones will point out that evidence from all sides points to basically the same story.

 

It?s a narrative that includes: Child brides, teen pregnancy and the men and boys who "by accident or design" are driven from the community.

Among the statistics highlighted in Jones?s opening statement filed in the court is the FLDS?s own census at Bountiful that shows adult women outnumber men 104 to 79.

 

"The FLDS denies that men and boys are expelled," he notes. "Where have they gone?"

 

As with incest and obscenity, Jones argues that many harms exist regardless of whether it is directly harmful to the participants and irrespective of the participants? consent.

 

He describes these as "marketplace harms," borrowing from the evidence of one of B.C.?s key witnesses, Prof. Joseph Henrich. Among the harms Henrich ascribes to polygamy are: early sexualization of girls, and higher crime rates and social disorder because of higher numbers of single men.

 

But legal precedent requires that Jones also address more general harms to the moral and democratic essence of society, equality and interests of vulnerable groups as well as harm to the participants and children of polygamous relationships, which some argue can include increased intrafamily violence and negative mental health outcomes for women and children, as well as reduced opportunities for schooling.

 

Canada?s lead lawyer, Deborah Strachan, will point out in her opening ? which has been filed in advance ? that it?s not necessary to provide conclusive evidence of harm. Rather, she says, "The court may rely on a reasonable apprehension of that harm."

 

Strachan contends that not only is the law valid, but it applies to multiple marriages that were legally valid under foreign law.

 

She will also argue that the Supreme Court of Canada has emphasized the importance of looking to Canada?s international human-rights obligations under various laws and treaties, including the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women.

 

Citing research by Prof. Rebecca Cook, who will be called as an expert witness, Strachan notes that if polygamy is legalized, "Canada would be taking a step contrary to international obligations that explicitly recognize the individual and societal harms that are inherent in the practice of polygamy."

 

The pro-polygamy argument:

 

George Macintosh ? the lawyer appointed to argue in favour of polygamy ? will come out with guns blazing:

 

He says the anti-polygamy law, which was enacted in 1890 and revised in 1954, was "aimed at defending a Christian view of proper family life and was employed in the state?s cultural colonization of aboriginal peoples."

 

His opening statement, filed in advance, says Section 293 "is based on an assumption that polygamy is a practice uniformly associated with harm; essentially, that it is ?barbarous.? The law is based entirely on presumed, stereotypical characteristics, is not responsive to the actual characteristics of the particular polygamous relationships, and has the effect of demeaning the dignity of practitioners of polygamy."

 

In constitutional terms, the amicus will argue that the polygamy prohibition breaches the sections that guarantee freedom of religion, association, equality (in terms of both religion and marital status) and liberty. He will also argue that it is over-broad and its penalty of up to five years in jail is disproportionate.

 

But at the centre of Macintosh?s case is the slippery-slope argument that Canadians (and Americans) opposed to same-sex marriage have long asserted.

 

He?ll argue that Canadian law condones casual group sex, but criminalizes committed, group relationships, point out that marriage is no longer only between a man and a woman, adultery has never been a criminal offence and group sex and partner-swapping were legalized in 2005 following a Supreme Court of Canada ruling.

 

In his opening statement, Macintosh boldly states that "polygamy is not inherently harmful to children." However, he cites no evidence to support that.

 

The amicus also says there is no evidence that "polygamy is inherently associated with social disorder, although the evidence suggests that the criminalization of polygamy tends to cause polygamous communities to become more insular."

 

Besides, if the intent of the criminal prohibition was to end polygamy, Macintosh says that has not been the result. Instead, criminalization has led to many of polygamy?s negative aspects.

 

Among those, he says, are: offending the dignity of women who choose polygamy, impeding the open expression of religious values, stigmatizing members of polygamous communities and further isolating them from the mainstream, and jeopardizing the financial viability of polygamous families because of fines, incarceration or legal costs.

 

The evidence:

 

Over the two months set aside so far for the trial, a wide range of opinions and voices will be heard. Some of those voices will be anonymous and even disembodied, since the chief justice has agreed that FLDS witnesses can testify without using their names and screened from everyone in the courtroom.

 

It?s their stories that people will most likely remember from this trial. What these witnesses have to say ? whether they choose to live in polygamous relationships or chose to leave ? will offer at least a glimpse of what it must be like to have 30 or more siblings and two or more wives. And it will be a view largely unobstructed by scriptwriters, nor edited for television.

[Guest W***ledi*Time]

Daphne Bramham reports for the Vancouver Sun, 26 Mar 2011:

 

http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Court+cases+rights+against+societal+values/4509193/story.html#ixzz1HxZvevrI

 

Ever since the Charter of Rights and Freedoms was enshrined in the Constitution in 1982, there has been a fundamental tension in Canada over competing rights and between individual rights and societal values.

 

The Charter makes it clear that rights are not absolute. Section 1 says all of the rights and freedoms cited are subject to "such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society."

 

That determination is left to the courts and it's up to Parliament to enact remedies.

 

Over the coming months, two court decisions -- one in British Columbia and the other in Ontario -- will highlight the chasm that can exist among competing rights and between rights and values.

 

In British Columbia, the issue is polygamy with closing arguments in the case starting on Monday.

 

Chief Justice Robert Bauman of the B.C. Supreme Court must decide whether having multiple, conjugal partners is so inherently harmful to individuals and society it overrides an individual's right to act on "sincerely held beliefs," the right to liberty and freedom of association. He must decide whether those individual rights trump the equality rights guarantee and he will, no doubt, be cognizant of the fact that the majority of Canadians oppose polygamy.

 

In June, justices of the Ontario Court of Appeal will determine whether a lower court judge was correct in striking down the criminal prohibition on pimping, keeping a brothel and communicating for the purposes of prostitution.

 

They will weigh the right to security of person, free speech and association against the perceived societal harms of prostitution.

 

In the polygamy case, the court-appointed amicus curiae and his allies, which include the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, take the position that individuals' right to choose is paramount.

 

The amicus's written argument that the polygamy law is unconstitutional because of its "astonishing overbreadth" runs to more than 300 pages.

 

In the most simplistic terms, amicus George Macintosh pits individual rights against an intolerant, majority Christian society with a prejudice for monogamy.

 

But he also argues that an individual's sincerely held belief that practising polygamy will bring him (or her) closer to God should not be fettered by concerns that fundamentalist Mormonism is highly patriarchal.

 

After all, he notes, patriarchy isn't unique to fundamentalist Mormonism. The Catholic Church doesn't ordain women as priests, which means that only men can hear confessions, give absolution or administer the sacraments.

 

So religious freedom trumps the constitutional guarantee of equality.

 

But it's more complicated than that, according to Craig Jones, lead lawyer for the provincial attorney-general and a former president of the BCCLA.

 

"It is the fringe question of polyandry [women having multiple husbands] and the related question of same-sex, multi-partner conjugality [polyamory] that may prove the most challenging from the constitutional point of view," he notes in his written closing argument.

 

The issue has caused internal problems for the BCCLA and West Coast Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF), an organization specifically set up to further women's equality rights through the courts.

 

"I think in particularly patriarchal relationships where women have little or no power, few economic resources, it's more likely that abuse will occur," the BCCLA's Grace Pastine told the National Post. However, she said the association's position is that polygamy is not inherently harmful and its harms can be kept in check with other laws.

 

In the prostitution case, the BCCLA supports legalization, arguing that the Charter guarantees security of person and that the equality section guarantees women the right to choose to be a sex-trade worker.

 

West Coast LEAF has yet to take a position on prostitution. But its position in the polygamy case is somewhat tortured.

 

In order to preserve women's right to choose their sexual partners, LEAF wants the polygamy law to be "written down" and enforced only when polygamists exploit women and girls.

 

It makes no mention of the so-called lost boys, who are either forced out of or encouraged to leave polygamous societies, to make the arithmetic work for men with multiple wives.

 

The attorneys-general for B.C. and Canada don't share any of that ambivalence.

 

Jones quotes from the 1878 U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding the polygamy prohibition, which still stands, in his closing argument: "[P]olygamy leads to the patriarchal principle, and which, when applied to large communities, fetters the people in stationary despotism."

 

Beyond that, lawyers for both governments argue the other harms of polygamy justify using Section 1 to limit the guaranteed rights.

 

They cite the evidence presented at the trial about fundamentalist Mormon brides as young as 12 as an example of sexual abuse and of boys being kicked out of their community. They cite studies and expert testimony about increased poverty rates, poor educational and health outcomes for women and children regardless of whether they are Bedouins, Africans or Canadians living in polygamous communities.

 

Both argue that criminalization is necessary to deter harm, noting that legalization would likely result in an increase in polygamy and a decrease in women's equality.

 

B.C.'s closing argument cites the report of the Quebec Conseil du statut de la femme and economist Shoshana Grossbard's evidence that France's 13-year experiment with decriminalization led to a 200,000-member community of polygamous families.

 

It notes that India has recently experienced the widespread conversion of high-profile Hindu men (including Bollywood stars and politicians) to Islam for the sole purpose of practising polygamy. Although India's Supreme Court has tried to stop the practice, its law commission is recommending changing the marriage laws to prevent polygamy regardless of a person's religion.

 

Macintosh acknowledges there has been "shocking" evidence of harm presented as evidence.

 

"The amicus shares the view of all right-thinking people that such abuse must be prosecuted and deterred," he says in his closing argument.

 

"Sexual interference, sexual exploitation, sexual assault, child trafficking -- none of these can be tolerated in the contexts of polygamy or monogamy and none can be justified under the banner of freedom of religion."

 

Among the solutions he proposes are to strike down the polygamy section and retain only the bigamy prohibition, which makes it a crime to be legally married to two or more people. This is based on a 1985 recommendation of the Law Reform Commission, which described polygamy as "a practice so foreign to our way of life that it does not directly threaten the institution of marriage."

 

The commission regarded polygamy as "a marginal practice" that "does not affect either the Canadian social fabric or the institution of marriage."

 

Of course, this raises the unanswered question of whether striking down the polygamy law would require all family laws to be rewritten so that women (and their children) leaving polygamous relationships would be entitled to support and a share of the family property.

 

The amicus supports prosecuting polygamists who are abusers, exploiters and traffickers and he suggests that by building bridges to polygamous communities, those prosecutions would be easier.

 

His most innovative suggestion is a new law that would criminalize forced marriages as a targeted measure aimed at ensuring that participants in plural relationships are consenting adults.

 

That would be in line with the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights and would follow what has been done in Belgium and Norway and is being contemplated in Australia and Britain.

 

Tolerance is a hallmark of liberal, democratic societies and was one of the driving forces behind Canada's decision to have a Charter of Rights in the first place.

 

But every country with large multi-ethnic and multicultural communities, including France, Britain, Norway, Belgium, Australia and the United States, is grappling with what tolerance means and how far to extend it.

 

In Canada, it's a debate that we have yet to fully engage in.

 

But if the legalizers in both the polygamy and prostitution cases succeed, we will be forced to consider whether our tolerance is limitless or whether there are things that we value more than acceptance of others' differences.

 

With both federal and provincial elections almost certain this year, those are questions we might want to put to politicians when they come asking for our votes.

 

Links to the closing arguments, as well as other court documents, can be found at: http://www.vancouversun.com/polygamy