Winston Blackmore and James Oler found guilty of polygamy
Winston Blackmore arrives at his trial in Cranbrook, British Columbia
Two Canadian religious leaders have been found guilty of practising polygamy by the Supreme Court of British Columbia (BC).
The trial heard Winston Blackmore, 61, married 24 women. His former brother-in-law James Oler, 53, married five.
They were both charged with one count of polygamy. Each face up to five years in prison.
The landmark ruling is considered a test of the boundaries of religious freedom in Canada.
"The Charter of Rights is the supreme law of Canada but we have to realise that the rights in the Charter are not absolute," Wally Opal, former BC attorney general told CTV News following Monday's ruling.
Blackmore and Oler are from Bountiful in southeastern BC, a religious community of about 1,500 people founded in 1946.
Both are former bishops with a breakaway Mormon sect, the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS).
James Oler arrives at court
Mr Blackmore was excommunicated from the FLDS in 2002 and replaced by Mr Oler.
The sect has branches in the United States, where it has about 10,000 members.
Polygamy is illegal under Section 293 of Canada's Criminal Code. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police first began investigating the sect in Bountiful in the 1990s.
Winston Blackmore, pictured in 2008, has an estimated 145 children
But attempts to bring the case to trial stumbled over a lack of legal clarity.
In 2011, the BC Supreme Court upheld Canada's anti-polygamy law as constitutional following a request from BC's government for a ruling on the issue.
It said the law was a reasonable restriction on religious freedoms in Canada.
The verdict on Monday is unlikely to be the final legal word.
Blackmore's lawyer, Blair Suffredine, told the court he planned to launch a challenge to the anti-polygamy laws should his client be found guilty.
Legal experts suggest that the case is likely to eventually end up in the Supreme Court of Canada.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-40709250
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I honestly had no idea that Polygamy was an issue in Canada! I am not necessarily against it, as long as it's not forced and no children are married off to old men, like with Warren Jeffs. Yet this guy Blackmore has an estimated 145 children! How do you support a family that large? How do you feed and clothe them and school them? And do they get free health care also?
He probably uses the system in Canada to support the kids. This was done in the US by the same sect using the welfare system to support them and their families.
Dear Friends Randy and Kavika: Time for a Sect change operation?
Freedom of religion is important.
So is being responsible for paying your own way on lifestyle choices.
You raise good issues about who is on the line to fund care for the many children.
Perhaps more sleeping, and less midnight creeping si in order here.
Enoch, Happily Married to Mrs. E. and Only Mrs. E. since June 1972.
Paying our own way, and I have receipts to prove it.
I've always found that one woman in my life was a full time thing....I can't imagine multiple numbers......and will this decision impact those coming to Canada from Middle Eastern Countries, where multiple wives is the norm? I wonder how the clown in the PMs office will handle that?
Why are the guys who practice polygamy generally overweight and fugly?
Because the thin ones can get the milk without buying the cow.
Because the RICH ones can get the milk without buying the cow. And funny, but I never thought of My wife as "cow".