Echoing a 2007 report by a special prosecutor, yesterday Vancouver lawyer Leonard Doust recommended to the Attorney General of the Canadian province of British Columbia that before prosecuting members of the polygamist FLDS colony in Bountiful, B.C., the government should ask the B.C. Court of Appeal to decide whether Canada's criminal laws against polygamy are constitutional. Doust's study ordered last September (see prior posting) concludes that a reference to the B.C. courts would eventually be heard by Canada's Supreme Court and would give clear notice to FLDS members in Bountiful that their conduct is prohibited. Reporting on these developments, the Canadian Press yesterday said B.C. Attorney General Wally Oppal prefers to bring polygamy charges and let defendants raise constitutional religious freedom concerns in their defenses. However he conceded that contrary recommendations now by two respected special prosecutors warrant serious consideration. The new report suggesting a strategy that would delay prosecution comes just as a high profile raid on an FLDS compound was being carried out in the United States. (See prior posting.)
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
.jpg)
Posts
1 comments:
This "case" (if it even gains that status for real) straddles two jurisdictions: federal (criminal) and provincial (marriage).
There's definitely job security here for all the lawyers. It won't be settled for years (and then I predict the feds will go away and the province will accept polygamy in fact as well as in practice).
And if they really want to stop this particular group, the Canadian government has to raise the provisional age of sexual consent from fourteen. If the prosecutors try to say that the old men have positions of undue authority on their teenaged wives, the defense can come right back and cite the tacit assumption that husband and wife are equal in all matters.
Post a Comment