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Polyamorists want to come out of the closet

Posted by Joanne on 13 March 2010, 5:01 pm

The March 22nd Macleans print issue contains a fascinating article entitled ‘Making Their Bed’, but it is not yet available online.  I will add a link when I see it on their website.

Ken MacQueen writes about the upcoming challenge to Canada’s polygamy law which is seeing some strange bedfellows unite in the quest to test the legality of the law once and for all.  Bountiful is the constant irritant that is forcing this issue to come to a head.

The various interested groups are detailed in this story from the Vancouver Courier and include the Canadian Polyamory Advocacy Association headed up by John Ince, a Vancouver lawyer who is himself in a polyamorous relationship according to Macleans.

Apparently only the polygamists at Bountiful have experienced any sort of legal trouble but the polyamorists in Canada want the kind of equality and freedom that is now enjoyed by heterosexual and homosexual monogamists:

…The law against polyamory is not legally enforced, Ince said.

“But it is completely unacceptable that a law remains on the books that says that.”

Polyamory is very different from polygamy, he added.

“At its core is the concept of equality,” Ince said, pointing out that polyamorists accept same-sex partnerships.

The law is detrimental to polyamorist people, according to Danielle Duplassie, a registered clinical counsellor, clinical sexologist and sex therapist in Burnaby.

“They are small fish in a big sea of monogamy,” Duplassie said, adding that the lack of access to places where “triads or quads” can go together on dates can be difficult.

“Right now, people live in fear of their relationships being outed.”

Since section 293 if the Criminal Code prohibits polygamy or “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,” then polyamorists are technically breaking the law when they live together in a conjugal manner.

In the Macleans article Ince states that “the case will determine only if plural relationships are legal. What flows from that – the rights of multiple partners to pensions, adoption or immigration sponsorship – are issues for future rulings many years, and many appeals, down the road…”

Personally I don’t see how we can stop this train. I’ve given up caring about the moral and societal ramifications,  but I wonder how much it’s ultimately going to cost us.

Thanks Pierre.

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Then again maybe what goes around comes around.

Update

Macleans online article now available – Making their bed. Check out the comments too.

Filed under Bountiful, Law & Justice, Multiculturalism, Polygamy.
64 Comments

What do we do about polygamy in Canada?

Posted by Joanne on 24 September 2009, 8:59 am

Last March I asked the question, Should we decriminalize polygamy? That was around the time that the case against Winston Blackmore and James Oler was ramping up. Yesterday we learned that the charges were thrown out due to perceived political interference. Now everyone is asking what’s next? Daphne Bramham, who is probably the most knowledgeable journalist on the topic, lends this view in her Vancouver Sun report -  Polygamy case in limbo after political interference:

…What makes this all so difficult for de Jong is that the very reason Oppal sought outside legal counsel is that four senior Crown counsel, including Robert Gillan, the assistant deputy attorney-general, believed that there was no substantial likelihood of conviction because the law is unconstitutional. Some of them were also involved in a 1992 decision not to pursue charges against Blackmore and against Oler’s father, despite the RCMP’s recommendation. It’s unlikely their positions have changed. But with this decision, de Jong can’t seek any further outside advice…

As I interpret Bramham’s column, the options as follows: 1. File an appeal. 2. Take it to Supreme Court. 3. Start a new RCMP investigation. 4. Do nothing. As I’ve written before, this isn’t just about Bountiful. Perhaps if it was then option #4 might not look so bad. This goes to the very essence of what we are as a country – Religious & cultural rights  supposedly protected by our sacred Charter vs. what many perceive to be an abuse of women and children. If the law is unconstitutional, let’s get rid of it and figure out something else. But this is not a situation we can continue to ignore. If we do so, we condone it.

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Related: Why polygamy should be illegal – The Iceman

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Friday Update:

Back to the drawing board in Bountiful – National Post

STOP! Polygamy in Canada – (Petition)

Women Speak Out Against Polygamy – Holy Post:

...FLDS groups aren’t the only ones who practice polygamy. Other fringe sects and some fundamentalist Muslims also engage in polygamous marriage. But according to Farzana Hassan, president of the Muslim Canadian Congress, polygamous marriage is an “oppressive institution.”

“It’s all about dominance, control and power structures,” she says, noting that “extremely young” Muslim women have been imported to Canada for the purpose of becoming polygamous wives. “I’m not even sure that their consent counts in such cases,” Hassan said.

“Freedom of religion has to be seen within the larger human rights issue. And if human rights are being trumped by a religious practice, then that’s not acceptable.”

Spencer agrees. A self-described born-again Christian today, living in a monogamous marriage, she says she found real freedom only through coming to a new understanding of and relationship with God, and it’s her faith that motivates her today.

“It is abuse for parents to marry [their girls off as] child brides, and for them to have babies so soon. I think it’s an absolute crime when a woman has a dozen or more children, so five-year olds have to change diapers and work, work, work. It is child slavery,” Spencer said.

“I want to be that voice for every woman who through fear, remains silent.”


Hunter has a great post up on the above article – Women speak out.

Filed under Crime, Law & Justice, Polygamy, Social Issues.
27 Comments

East of Eden on polygamy

Posted by Joanne on 25 March 2009, 4:51 pm

Blue Like You seems to have morphed into a virtual gathering place of like-minded travellers, so it’s fun to learn a bit more about the views of our regulars.

This evening it’s a real treat for me to refer you to a post by ‘East of Eden’ – Where are the great defenders?

As you will read in his blog, E of E is outraged not only by the victimization of women and children who are trapped in polygamous situations, but also by the conspicuous absence of outcry by those on the left:

To hear the feminists and the left-wing contingent tell it, Stephen Harper hates women (and just about everybody else) and only the feminists and left-wing contingent can protect people from the evil Stephen Harper. It goes without saying that all this hatred attributed to our Prime Minister is, at best, unfounded balderdash and, at worst, slander subject to litigation.

So, I have to ask: where are these great protectors of the helpless victims? Where are they? They’re probably too busy trying to shore up funding for the Status of Women which, as far as I can see, does absolutely nothing for women…but that’s a whole other story.

However, in Canada, we do have a group of women who are seriously subjugated and in serious need of support and liberation. I am talking about women who, not of their free will, belong to the cult known as FLDS. FLDS is a cult which broke off from the Mormon Church – it is a cult which purports to be following God’s will but is, in fact, nothing but a cult run by a few evil males who control a large number of people for their own nefarious purposes. It’s funny how the evil in the world boils down to two things: money and sex. In the case of the FLDS, it boils down to those two things, in my opinion…

This actually ties in quite nicely with an article in today’s National Post showing that according to documents obtained by Canwest, the Harper Government has been watching the Bountiful situation for some time and is prepared to “defend the constitutionality of Canada’s criminal ban against polygamy” with what almost sounds like a PR campaign geared to appeal to the  ‘Canadian values’ of equality of the sexes and the rule of law.

I’m sure East of Eden would applaud the Government on this one, as would most Canadians.  A ramping-up of public opinion against polygamy probably couldn’t hurt.

However, Tom Flanagan who recently had a column published in the Globe, says that this appeal to Canadian values may not be enough:

…University of Calgary professor Tom Flanagan, a former campaign manager for Prime Minister Stephen Harper, said it’s important for the government to launch a “strong defence” of the law now, in case public opinion becomes more lenient toward polygamy as the Bountiful case proceeds. But he said the government will have to do better than making a vague appeal to “Canadian values.”

“To me, it’s not the most profound argument to make,” said Flanagan, who recently argued in an editorial that the Bountiful case could lead to the legalization of plural marriages…

Well in any case, I think East of Eden is on the right track with his challenge to the feminists and the left-wingers to start speaking out and give these women and children support.

However, even if the law against polygamy is actually upheld,  will it mean anything if  some provinces continue to turn a blind eye?

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Update: East of Eden has another one up! My Body, My Choice – Uh, Wrong

Thursday Update: Great podcast available at the National Post’s Full Comment – Should Canada’s ban on polygamy stand?

Filed under Bountiful, Canadian Government, Ontario government, Polygamy, Social Issues.
31 Comments

Should we decriminalize polygamy?

Posted by Joanne on 23 March 2009, 8:44 am

Since I’m right in the middle of reading Debbie Palmer and Dave Perrin’s “Keep Sweet – Children of Polygamy“, I couldn’t help noticing Tom Flanagan’s column in today’s Globe – First decriminalization, then plural marriages.

Flanagan’s premise seems to be that since decriminalization of sodomy eventually led to the redefinition of marriage in Canada to include same-sex couples, therefore if we strike down Section 293 of the Criminal Code, then there’s a reasonable chance that activists will eventually push for legal recognition of polygamy in the same way.

And if you think this is a far-out scenario, some financial services are already pondering the implications.

Ontario already recognizes polygamous marriages if they were performed outside of Canada.

In addition, polygamous marriages are celebrated in Ontario with very little interference from authorities.

But the most infamous story about polygamy is that in Bountiful, B.C., where Winston Blackmore and James Oler will be back in court on April 22 on charges of polygamy. Meanwhile, Blackmore is looking for legal aid in what promises to be a very complex case, since it involves Freedom of Religion which is enshrined in Trudeau’s Charter of Rights.

But since polygamy can involve the abuse of women and children, would it not be better to have it out in the open rather than hiding it all away in a cloistered community? If these children were more exposed to Canadian culture and education, perhaps there would be less chance of them being brainwashed into the religion.

I know this is a highly emotional issue, but perhaps we can try to assess it in a logical, and objective manner.

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Tuesday Update: Please check out Liberty is Good -  Coyne vs. Flanagan on Polygamy.

Filed under Bountiful, Polygamy.
56 Comments

Andrea Calver and Feminism today

Posted by Joanne on 10 February 2009, 8:45 am

Good on Ezra Levant for making Andrea Calver own up to her outrageous comment on the Michael Coren Show. Russ Campbell also covers it here.

Aside from her ridiculous accusation though, the subject itself is worth pondering. Ezra muses:

…Until a few years ago, I would have thought that feminism had run its course. Women have now achieved everything in society that men can achieve, and are limited only by their own ambitions and choices. Time to pack up the revolution, and move on to another fight.

But that’s changed in recent years, as the most fundamental basics of feminism — equality before the law — have been challenged by radical Islam, not just overseas but right here in Canada. The likes of Judy Rebick are too silent when it comes to honour killings like that of Toronto’s Aqsa Parvez, or polygamous marriages like those solemnized by Toronto’s Aly Hindy. We actually need real feminists again, but they’re too busy showing how “tolerant” they are of misogynistic cultures to care…

Do you agree that ‘feminists’ seem to back down in the face of certain cultural or religious practices?  And is it really about ‘tolerance’?

There certainly does seem to be some kind of fundamental conflict at issue here. Ezra specifically refers to the influence of the Muslim culture in our society, and how we tend to look the other way in instances of polygamy and so on.

However, polygamy is also practised by other religions and cultures;  for example by the  Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) in the B.C. community of Bountiful.

Here we have another ‘feminist’ with her view of the Bountiful situation which has been in the news again:

…Note that these two men are not being charged with bigamy – they have committed no fraud and have not attempted simultaneous or serial “legal” marriages. As far as the law goes, there is one legal wife; the women thereafter are co-habiting with legally married men. To insist that it’s not in their best interests to do so is to infantilize them. If we can ban these relationships, why not polyamoury?

I asked that question a few times myself in the past, but more in a tongue-in-cheek fashion.

But what do Canadian ‘feminists’ actually stand for today?

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Related: Show me the evidence – McGill Tribune.

B.C. civil libertarians want polygamy charges stayed – Daphne Bramham, Vancouver Sun.

The Joy of Sects (and Bountiful’s well-hidden shame) – The Thunderbird.

Distraction anyone? – House of Infamy.

Filed under Feminists, Honour killings, Political correctness, Polygamy.
35 Comments

Bountiful Update

Posted by Joanne on 21 January 2009, 9:58 pm

As a follow-up to the post back on Jan. 9 about charges of polygamy being laid in Bountiful, we now know that Winston Blackmore and James Oler appeared in court today. Their cases have been held over until Feb. 18.

Blackmore’s defence team “includes Blair Suffredine, the former Liberal MLA for Nelson-Creston, who during his single term had several meetings with local activists who urged him to do something about Bountiful”, according to Daphne Bramham.

The defence will center on the precedent of gay marriage, and also religious freedom as guaranteed in the Charter of Rights.

The reason this case is so important is because polygamy isn’t just happening in Bountiful.  Toronto has problems too and activists will be watching the BC case very closely.

If Blackmore and Oler end up winning their cases, some fear that the next step down the ‘slippery slope’ might be the tacit acceptance of Sharia law.

Filed under Polygamy.
11 Comments

Polygamy charges laid in Bountiful

Posted by Joanne on 7 January 2009, 5:13 pm

This is going to be an interesting one to watch – The Criminal Code vs. The Charter.

Anyone willing to wager a bet?

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Thursday Update: Polygamy law faces stiff test under Charter – Post

Friday Update: This pretty much covers it all – Chris Selley’s Full Pundit.

Filed under Polygamy.
36 Comments
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