General

Bountiful women defend polygamy

Women say plural marriage is their decision

In a case to determine whether Canada’s polygamy laws are constitutional, several women from the fundamentalist Mormon community in Bountiful, B.C. testified in the province’s Supreme Court in defence of plural marriage. The women were unidentified and testified via video link and did not show their faces. One woman, 24, described having a dream about her future husband, whom she married at 17, saying, “I felt like my marriage was a revelation from God because it happened to be the same person I had seen in that dream and I accepted that.” Many of the women who appeared in court were in their teens when they married, and had come to Canada from the U.S. on student visas. A 22-year-old unmarried woman testified that she feels she would have a choice of whether or not to marry. The provincial government argues that polygamy encourages human trafficking and subjugates women. The case arose from the prosecution of Bountiful’s leaders, Winston Blackmore and James Oler, in 2009.

CBC News

Looking for more?

Get the Best of Maclean's sent straight to your inbox. Sign up for news, commentary and analysis.
  • By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy. You may unsubscribe at any time.
FILED UNDER: