This is a legal case I’ve been following for several years, involving the polygamist community of Bountiful in Southeast British Columbia. The FLDS bishop (maybe former bishop, not sure) has been convicted of moving an underage girl across the border into the US to be married polygamously.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/james-oler-decision-1.5140018

Interestingly, the article refers to Bountiful as a “fundamentalist Christian sect”. I’ve seen lots of coverage about the FLDS in the Canadian news over the years, and on CBC in particular, and I haven’t seen that before.

> Interestingly, the article refers
> to Bountiful as a “fundamentalist
> Christian sect”.


That's like saying that "The charges were only made against some of the involved humans..."

I like to see credit given were credit is due!

From the article cited in the OP:

“B.C. Supreme Court Justice Martha Devlin says it's reasonable to believe that James Oler knew the 15-year-old girl would be subject to sexual activity when he arranged her marriage to an older member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”

“A special prosecutor argued Oler should have known the girl would be subject to sexual activity following her marriage based on the nature of church doctrine and the disempowered role of women in the faith.”

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James Oler is noted as the former bishop of Bountiful (fundamentalist Mormon polygamous community in B.C., Canada).

Winston Blackmore is the current bishop of Bountiful (although that community split several years ago over disagreements about leadership, as far as I recall). He is described, it is said, as “Canada’s best-known avowed polygamist”. Wikipedia lists him as having 149 children. I’m not sure if he acknowledges that number.

Describing Bountiful as a “fundamentalist Christian sect” is startling. Either the reporter got it wrong or the plygs don’t even own up to their own church/faith. Or maybe the so-called mainstream Mormon Church protests at the plygs using the term ‘Mormon’, even though the SLC leaders don’t want it used for themselves any more.

It’s great that the first judgement of “not guilty” was set aside and a retrial ordered. Even better that Oler was actually now found guilty. He has apparently served a (short) sentence of house arrest in the past. Blackmore was found guilty a while back too, after years of legal wrangling, and received a massive sentence of six months house arrest. Unfortunately, sentences in Canada often come down on the light side, even for grave offences.

But it's a start. Hopefully, it will lead to greater investigation of the activities at Bountiful and more protection for the children. "Wives" too, if they want.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/17/2019 10:08PM by Nightingale.

I agree that Blackmore’s sentence of 6 months is disappointingly light, and I’d have preferred to see him serve a longer one. His conviction was for the practice of polygamy, while Oler has been convicted of what amounts to human trafficking, with the particularly odious fact that his victim was a child basically being sold into sexual slavery. I will be greatly appalled if his sentence isn’t considerably longer than Blackmore’s. However, as you noted Nightingale, the legal process often has perplexing results. I hope not in this case.

looking in Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> Interestingly, the article refers to Bountiful as
> a “fundamentalist Christian sect”.

As traditional religions decline, fewer people are knowledgeable on the distinctions among various faiths and denominations. The writer's over-simplification demonstrates that.