http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/polygamist-parents-from-bountiful-british-columbia-go-on-trial-for-child-trafficking

"Seventy years after a handful of fundamentalist Mormons staked out a secretive community in southeastern B.C. to practice the celestial law of plural marriage, three of their descendants will go on trial on Tuesday in Cranbrook.

It is the first trial of its kind, despite years of rumours and investigations into allegations of sexual exploitation, abuse and human trafficking. It comes nearly three decades after the first in a long string of B.C. attorneys general refused to lay charges against some of the group’s founders because of legal opinions warning that the Constitution’s guarantee of religious freedom might protect the practices in Bountiful.

The trial opens without Canada’s most notorious polygamist, Winston Blackmore, husband to 27 and father to 145. Blackmore was charged with one count of polygamy in 2014 at the same time as three others from Bountiful."

It's a sight to behold. Don't miss it.

As an aside, they've made a mistake in the caption under the picture. They've stated that Blackmore is a former bishop and Oler is the present bishop.

As I understand it, the Bountiful community divided and each of those men are bishops, presiding over their own little flock, in the same area.

I can't keep the myriad details straight but I seem to recall that Warren Jeffs chose James Oler to become the new bishop but some of the people chose a different route. (Remarkable in itself, that they were so inclined and acted on it and that they were allowed to get away with it, apparently). Blackmore was subsequently ex'd.

The close connection with Jeffs is scary. Poison spreading up over the border.

Deborah Palmer was Ray Blackmore's 5th wife (some reports say 3rd - I'm sure she told me it was 5th). Ray co-founded Bountiful. Winston is Debbie's stepson (iirc). Debbie's sister is married to Winston. The ties are so entangled but amazingly, all the women can recite precise family trees. Debbie left the commune in the later 80s and has become what they call "an outspoken critic" of their way of life, in particular, of the habit of way older men marrying very young teens. Debbie herself was 15 when married to Ray, who was 57 years old. When I was 15, I was dating a guy who was, oh I don't know, FIFTEEN!

One of the reporters who is constantly all over this story has written that the history is hard to keep straight as there are only a few last names and "everybody is related". True enough.

Debbie has written a book called "Keep Sweet: Children of Polygamy". It details the origins of the sect in Bountiful. It's very hard to read as she gives minute details of rampant physical and sexual abuse against very young children, herself included. I admire her for being so outspoken about such personal experiences. I'm sure I couldn't do it. The book haunted me for a long time after I read it. I would caution anyone that it may trigger to think about whether it's a good place for them to go. However, it's an excellent account if you're interested in the origins of that commune (obviously, with its roots in the USA but seeking good - and isolated - land some of the men came up here). I have been to the nearby town but not to the commune itself (pretty sure they wouldn't let me in and would I want to go - not too sure about that). Women up there from various churches try to help those who leave and they try to help the women who are allowed to go to the local hospital to give birth (over and over and ...). The average number of children for the females in Bountiful is 10. Average in our general population - I'm guessing 2.3 or something like that. The midwife there (Jane - Debbie's sister) stated that "younger women give birth easier" but "they have other complications" (which she declined to specify). Maybe massive tearing as such young mothers may not be physically ready to deliver (just guessing).

Debbie has stated that she personally knows of the men transporting 13 year old girls across the Canada/US border (for purposes of marriage in the US).

I can (somewhat) understand the need for prosecutors and govt in Canada to weigh the provisions of our freedom of religion statutes prior to going after the FLDS. What I will never get is how they can seemingly freely take children across borders to be hidden away in some isolated commune, "married" to men they don't know who are decades older than them.

It is sick and twisted. Dark and dirty. Criminal.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/22/2016 04:07PM by Nightingale.

With plygs change is inevitable and often swift...poor oler has since been stripped of his position and is repenting from afar without his families...he was found living in an old school bus...repenting from afar is like tithing on steroids...might cost you all you got to get back in the game...i know one fella who was called back in for a status check...relieved of any money hed accumulated then booted again...that gawd is sure a squirrelly bugger...always some younger zealot to take over when the older jokers wont boot out the people ordered by the prfit warny...this was olers prob...he got tired of being the asshole so was relieved of duty...these people are only guilty of being brainwashed fanatics and used up by evil leaders...sound familiar?...it should...its been a doctine of the mighty church for almost 200 years..but in tscc you dont lose multiple families...usually just one if you speak ill of the extra virgin olive oiled guys

I'm surprised Blackmore hasn't caught a bullet yet from one of the abused women who have escaped from his little gulag or from one of the young men who got run off. What a POS.

RB