14 www.pgcitizen.ca | Thursday, March 31, 2011 news Polygamy is bad, but religious polygamy is worse: government lawyer JONES “It seems fantastic to suggest that these crimes are hidden because polygamy has been driven underground.” James Keller The Canadian Press VANCOUVER — Canada’s criminal prohibition of polygamy isn’t designed to target religion, but the practice does seem to be most harmful when it is connected to a religious belief, a lawyer for the British Columbia government said Wednesday during a landmark court case examining the law. Opponents of the law, including a small religious sect in Bountiful, B.C., argue the ban infringes on their charter right to religious freedom. Craig Jones said the province accepts that some people, including the self-described fundamentalist Mormons in Bountiful, practise polygamy because of deeply held religious views. But he said that doesn’t mean they should be immune from the law. “We’ve seen the extent to which religion is used as the control mechanism, as the enforcement mechanism that magnifies the harms of polygamy,” Jones said during his third day of final submissions at the constitutional reference case being heard by the B.C. Supreme Court. “The evidence that has emerged from expert and lay witnesses alike is that the greater the religious fervour with which polygamy is intertwined, the more harmful it can be expected to be. There is something significantly harmful about the religious manifestation of polygamy.” The court was asked to determine whether the law against polygamy is constitutional following the failed prosecution of two community leaders from Bountiful in 2009. Residents of Bountiful are members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, or FLDS, which, unlike the mainstream Mormon church, still encourages polygamy. Critics argue the law violates several sections of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, most no- tably those dealing with religious freedom and discrimination. They also claim the law is too broad and targets innocent relationships involving more than two people. The provincial and federal governments insist polygamy is inherently harmful, leading to physical and sexual abuse, teenage brides, human trafficking and other crimes. They also say polygamy affects the broader society, regardless of whether a particular polygamous marriage is good or bad. Those harms, the governments say, outweigh any claim to religious freedom. “Religiosity of a practice does not automatically render it immune from prosecution,” said Jones. “There are few crimes that have not, at one time or another, been excused on religious bases, from petty theft to genocide. Clearly, criminal activity such as female-genital mutilation, honour killings, ritual animal sacrifice and cannibalism may be deeply connected with cultural or religious beliefs.” And even without religion, Jones argued, polygamy is still harmful. In any society in which men marry multiple women, the pressures created by the reduced supply of potential wives will cause all of the same problems, he said. Jones also rejected the argument that the law - rather than polygamy itself - is really what’s harming the women and children of Bountiful. Groups opposing the law have suggested criminalizing polygamy drives it underground, leading to the secretive isolation that has come to define the polygamous community in southeastern B.C. The law puts Bountiful residents under psychological stress, critics have argued, and makes it impossible for them to report crimes and seek outside help. “Decriminalizing polygamy is unlikely to make Bountiful less insular,” said Jones. “It seems fantastic to suggest that these crimes are hidden because polygamy has been driven underground. These crimes are hidden because they are crimes. They flow from polygamy and they need to be kept secret in order for their perpetrators to be able to continue committing them.” Bountiful has been subjected to several RCMP investigations during the past 20 years over allegations including polygamy, child sexual abuse and human trafficking, but prosecutors repeatedly declined to lay charges. That changed in early 2009, when a special prosecutor recommended polygamy charges against the community’s two competing bishops, Winston Blackmore and James Oler. Blackmore was accused of having 19 wives, but the constitutional case has heard he has as many as 25. Oler was accused of having three wives, but the court heard he now has five, allegedly including an American girl he married when she was 15. A judge later threw out the charges because of how the provincial government chose a special prosecutor, prompting the government to order the ongoing constitutional hearings. The case is expected to eventually end up at the Supreme Court of Canada. JOB FAIR — Felix Erfurt,outbound sales manager with Telus, leads an introductory session at the Telus Job Fair Tuesday afternoon at the Civic Centre.The fair moves to UNBC today. Citizen photo by Brent Braaten Debate exclusion ‘anti-democratic in the extreme’ says Green leader May Tamsyn Burgmann The Canadian Press VANCOUVER — Green Party Leader Elizabeth May blamed the prime minister and “media elites” Wednesday for trying to silence her in the upcoming federal leaders’ debates, and vowed to fight the decision to keep her out of the nationally televised discussions. While she appealed to Canadians of all political stripes to help sway organizers to change their minds, May said Wednesday the party is considering legal action. “This is not just a distraction, it verges on sabotage by national media elites who’ve decided that the Greens don’t matter,” she told reporters in Vancouver. “The Canadian public won’t tolerate this.” Obviously frustrated, she said there may not be much time to go to the courts against the five broadcast stations that made the decision. “That’s why the court of public opinion makes more sense, it can work faster,” said May, who is running in the Saanich-Gulf Islands riding against Conservative Gary Lunn. If that gets no traction, she has asked Toronto lawyer Peter Rosenthal to seek an emergency ruling based on charter arguments. May said she thought her participation in the debate was solidified in 2008, when she participated for the first time and saw her party’s and the TV event’s ratings soar. She said she doesn’t understand the reason for this rerun, but suspects pressure from the prime minister may have played a role. “Only (based on) past history, and listening very carefully to the way that Mr. Harper parsed his words in responding to the question of whether I should be included in the debates,” she said. Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff and NDP Leader Jack Layton both said they support May’s inclusion, and Harper suggested he’s not outright opposed. The Conservative Party leader said his party is open to any number of debate formats, including a one-on-one with Ignatieff. He suggested the real debate for Canadians comes down to just him and the Liberal leader. “I think there are a number of options,” Harper said at a campaign stop Wednesday in Brampton, Ont. “The networks will ultimately have to make a decision that serves the public interest and we will insist that it treats ourselves and all parties fairly.” In 2008, the consortium reversed its initial decision to exclude May after Harper and Layton backed off a threatened boycott should the Green leader be invited. A spokesman for the five host broadcasters - CBC, Radio-Canada, CTV, Global and TVA - has said the consortium “unanimously decided” to only invite the four MAY parties with representation in the House. The consortium met Wednesday with representatives of the four main parties to discuss the timing and format for the debates. No final agreement was reached but sources said the networks appeared unwilling to change their minds about excluding May. Sources said the consortium is tentatively proposing two debates: one in English on April 12 and another in French on April 14. The negotiations took place as Harper and Ignatieff were challenging each other, through Twitter, to a one-on-one debate. The Tories tweeted that they raised the idea during Wednesday’s debate negotiations but the Liberals did not support them. Liberal spokesperson Marc Roy later clarified that Liberals want the one-on-one face-off to be in addition to the traditional debates organized by the consortium. He said the Liberal negotiator argued for May’s inclusion in the latter. As debate over the debate topped Twitter traffic about the federal election, the country’s former chief electoral officer said he hopes the consortium will reconsider. “I think proper weight will have to be given to the public support that the Green Party has enjoyed in the previous elections and that they continue to enjoy in the public opinion polls,” Jean-Pierre Kingsley said in an interview. Calling the approximately six per cent of the vote garnered by the Greens in 2008 an “achievement,” Kingsley said the party would hold 15 to 18 seats if seats were proportional to the overall votes cast. “It’s just because of the vagaries of our electoral system, where they get support generally across the land and not in one particular area as opposed to another, that their six per cent or so of the votes translates into no seats,” Kingsley said. “But it doesn’t mean that they’re not resonating with a significant proportion of the Canadian public, they are.” An independent television station, CHCH-TV Hamilton in conjunction with CHEK-TV Victoria, has offered to host a debate that includes May, saying the decision to leave her out is “just plain wrong.” In brief Kamloops RCMP bring in reinforcements for funeral in gang-linked murder KAMLOOPS (CP) — RCMP are bringing additional officers to Kamloops for the funeral of a gang member allegedly killed by members of a rival gang. More than 20 extra officers, including members of the provincial gang task force, will have a visible presence on the streets of the city over the next two days for the wake and funeral of Archie LePretre. Police fear a retaliatory violence after 22-year-old LePretre died last Friday, following a confrontation with three masked men armed with knives and a baseball bat as he and his cousin played basketball on a school court. RCMP say LePretre’s cousin, who was also injured in the attack, is a member of a Vancouver-area gang, and they believe the attack was linked to hostilities between this and another group. B.C. announces $2 million to study fibromyalgia, Lyme disease, chronic fatigue VANCOUVER (CP) — The B.C. government is earmarking $2 million for a clinical and research study of a variety of complex chronic diseases. The study will focus on screening, diagnosing and treating patients with fibromyalgia, Lyme disease and chronic fatigue syndrome. A statement from the provincial Health Ministry says the goal is to accurately diagnose the conditions, and provide treatment or ongoing symptom management. At the moment, the cause of these debilitating illnesses is unknown, though doctors suspect an infectious agent may be the root. The Health Ministry says recent breakthroughs in DNA sequencing and computer analysis mean doctors may soon have some answers about these conditions. Anti-HST camp admits defeat in latest recall campaign KAMLOOPS (CP) — HST opponents are admitting another defeat in their effort to unseat a B.C. Liberal over the tax. The recall campaign targeted Kamloops-North MLA Terry Lake, but campaign organizer Chat Moats says his canvassers won’t be able get the required number of signatures to force a byelection in the environment minister’s riding. The recall effort has collected about 9,000 of the 15,299 signatures needed, with just six days left in the campaign. Earlier recall efforts failed in Victoria and Comox-area ridings, while organizers in Maple Ridge-Mission quit just weeks into their campaign and those in the Cariboo cancelled their effort before it even began.