Canada's polygamy laws upheld by B.C. Supreme Court

[alp227]

Source: CBC

The B.C. Supreme Court has upheld Canada's polygamy laws in a decision handed down Wednesday in Vancouver.

The case is expected to be appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada.

Chief Justice Robert Bauman spent several months hearing testimony and legal arguments about whether the 121-year-old ban on multiple marriages is constitutional.

The landmark hearings, which wrapped up in April, focused on the polygamous community of Bountiful, B.C., but the ruling is expected to have implications for polygamists in the Muslim community and for those who practise polyamoury, or having multiple marriage partners outside a religious context.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2011/11/23/bc-polygamy-ruling-supreme-court.html

[MADem]

1. I suppose it's closer to say "Canada's lack of polygamy laws/prohibition of polygamy laws"

Those Canadian Mormons won't be happy about this...!

[MedicalAdmin]

2. NO shit.

They'll have to move back to south Utah.

[malthaussen]

3. Funny how polygamy laws

... are just as much an infringement as anti-gay marriage laws are, but raise little or no outrage at all.

-- Mal

[Xithras]

4. I think it's because of our history with polygamy.

I know quite a few people from the middle east, and few have any problem with polygamy. Why not? Because most have been exposed to it, and they understand that they are marriages like any other. Some are abusive. Some are not. Some are patriarchal. Some are not. There are marriages founded on fear. And there are marriages founded on love. To them, laws should be focused on stopping the abuses, and not interfering with marriages. To them, banning polygamy because it can be abusive makes about as much sense as banning marriage because it's abusive.

In North America, our only real exposure to polygamy tends to come from the Mormon cults and occasional sex cults. While there are polyamorous couples out there, they tend to be rare and keep a low profile. Because religious polygamy is nearly always abusive, and that's the only polygamy we're regularly exposed to, it colors our view of the whole institution. When every polygamous relationship that you know of is abusive, it's fairly normal to start associating polygamy with abuse.

[left on green only]

6. I like your logic!

[pnwmom]

5. No they're not. There's nothing about marriage that would require it to be among

more than two people.

And polygamy, unlike gay marriage, is often linked to cultures that subordinate women.

[The Second Stone]

7. Conjoined twins

would require it be among more than two people.

[iverglas]

8. you could always read the facts of the case

and maybe learn something about constitutional law before speaking.

Laws infringe rights all the time. The question is whether the infringement is justified.

Oh look; I had clicked and was waiting for the page to open ...

In his ruling, Bauman said while the law does infringe on religious freedom, it is justified given the harm polygamy causes to children, women and society.

“More specifically, Parliament’s reasoned apprehension of harm arising out of the practice of polygamy. This includes harm to women, to children, to society and to the institution of monogamous marriage.”

... Likewise, Canada's polyamorists — people with multiple partners outside a religious context — said they were relieved because Bauman said the law shouldn't apply to them unless they decide to formalize their unions.

"The formality of marriage is really not a big issue in the polyamorous community," said John Ince, the spokesman for the Canadian Polyamoury Advocacy Association.

Protection of vulnerable persons really is one function of laws in a liberal democracy.

The case involved a group from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Testimony detailed the abuse suffered by women and children.

Another case involving polygamy is in the courts at the moment - a husband, his son and his #2 wife charged with murdering the husband's #1 wife and two of his daughters. Polygamy (which always involves multiple women, not multiple men) puts vulnerable people at risk.