Stop polygamy and trafficking underage children

Masking polygamy, trafficking underage children and breaking laws all in the name of religion must stop. Now that such a high profile case as Warren Jeff’s conviction has concluded Canadians and Americans must demand that something be done about communities either doing the same or aiding other communities to commit the type of crimes Warren Jeff engaged in.

With evidence showing that two underage girls were sent from B.C. to Warren Jeff for marriage has many Canadians asking, what is wrong here in Canada where not only polygamy is allowed but that child trafficking is not punished with jail sentences to both the people sending the child (i.e. the leader(s) of these B.C. cults but also the parents that allowed this to occur).

Canada has tried to lay charges those in Bountiful before. B.C. has lost on polygamy convictions against Bountiful because of how the government chose its prosecutors. Now that evidence provided by Canada has helped convict Jeffs…are the winds of change now in favour of success regarding future convictions against this community.

Attorney General Barry Penner said his ministry shared information with prosecutors leading up to the life sentence imposed by a Texas court after Jeffs, the self-proclaimed prophet of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, or FLDS. To us Jeff is nothing more than a monster prying on the weak and children.

The information shared by Canadian authorities proved to be useful in the recent prosecution and conviction of Mr. Jeffs. This shared evidence was presented during the Canadian spring trial where the courts were to rule on Canada’s prohibition under the Criminal Code for polygamous marriages. This constitutional case heard allegations of cross-border marriages involving more than two dozen teenage girls from Bountiful, including at least two 12-year-olds and a 13-year-old, who were sent to the United States to marry older men, including Jeffs. Several American girls were married to Canadian men, the court heard.

The allegations came from FLDS records, uncovered in 2008, when authorities in Texas raided the church’s Yearning for Zion Ranch near Eldorado. These records were sent down and used to help convict Jeffs.

Now it has been reported the RCMP are launching a new criminal investigation into Bountiful. Reports indicate officers are goingto Texas soon to find the child brides from the community.

According to the B.C. constitutional case, Jeffs called the girls’ parents in Bountiful and ordered them to bring their daughters to him, and they complied. The girls were sent and wed to Jeffs in “celestial” marriages in 2005 at the Texas ranch. The girls were wed on the same day to Jeffs and were 12 years old at the time.

Bountiful, a small commune in southeastern British Columbia, just south of Creston near the Canada-U.S. border with about 1,000 residents in the community follow the teachings of the FLDS has been in the news over the years. They have been investigated several times by the RCMP but so far no one has been convicted.

The community’s has two leaders, Winston Blackmore and James Oler. Although their charges for polygamy were thrown out over how the government chose its prosecutors, will the Jeffs conviction turn public sentiment around demanding changes to what Canada tolerates?

After the provincial government asked the B.C. Supreme Court to decide whether Canada’s prohibition on multiple marriage is constitutional, hearings occurred and a decision is pending with a Supreme Court of Canada appeal expected.

So now we as Canadians must ask what is going on and do we as a society want to allow polygamy (and all the trappings, preachings and female abuse that often goes with it) and child trafficking which is clearly against the law.

Lets force our politicians and court system to go after the people that prey on the weak and children.

Let us know what you think.