British Columbia’s highest court has ruled that Canada’s anti-polygamy law should stand.
Chief Justice Robert Bauman said the ban on multiple marriages was consistent with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
The case comes after a judge threw out polygamy charges against two bishops of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS).
Justice Bauman said the law “minimally impairs religious freedom”.
“I have concluded that this case is essentially about harm,” he wrote in his decision. “The salutary effects of the prohibition far outweigh the deleterious.”
Culture or criminality?
Winston Blackmore and James Oler, the two rival bishops involved in prior polygamy charges, have said the law denied them their constitutional right to religious freedom.
Justice Bauman said the government’s case had shown the law limits the harms expected to rise from polygamy, including spousal abuse, child neglect, and higher infant mortality.
The judge said, however, that the law should be changed to avoid criminalising the actions of minors in polygamous marriages.
Categories: Americas, Canada, Law and Religion
Lawful Polygamy brings rights and responsibilities together. Polygamy otherwise is common but with out any responsibilities and that is what will propagate further.
Theoretically the Judge has a point when he thinks he wants to avoid ‘child neglect’ by the fact that the father may not pay sufficient attention to children of polygamous families. However, this is just theory. In practice what will the learned Judge do to ensure that fathers of presently unrecognized ‘partnerships’ fulfill their obligations? In the Caribbean I had a maid with 5 children, each from another father. Will the learned Judge prohibit such ‘child neglect’ by the absent fathers?
etc.etc.etc. There could be many examples. Polygamy may not be the best of all marriage forms, but it is not the worst of all of the present-day ‘cohabitation’ forms… (or what ever we should call it)…
In fact the Polygamy in Islam was primarily prescribed so that orphans and widows could be taken care of. It was to provide father to fatherless and stabilize family unity.