Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints (FLDS)

Polygyny in Bountiful, British Columbia, Canada

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Bountiful, British Columbia (BC):

The town of Bountiful was founded in southeastern British Columbia, Canada, during 1947. It is located in the Creston Valley, near Cranbrook and Creston, BC. It is in a rugged area about 40 miles northeast of the junction of the borders of Idaho, Montana, and British Columbia. Its estimated population in 1998 was 600. ₁ It has since grown to about 1,000. Almost all residents are the descendents of about six men.

Most, if not all, of the residents of Bountiful are Mormons, members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS). They follow the original teachings of Joseph Smith which includes polygyny: the practice of a single man marrying multiple wives. This faith group should not be confused with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) -- a much larger denomination. The FLDS and LDS both trace their spiritual ancestry back to Joseph Smith's original Church of Christ that he founded in 1830; both consider themselves to be the only valid Mormon church.

In 1890, Wilford Woodruff, the fourth president of the main Mormon denomination, the LDS, issued a manifesto. It was a revelation from God called the "Great Accommodation".  It suspended the solemnization of new Mormon plural marriages for an indefinite interval.  Since that time, all Mormons who enter into new polygamous marriages have been excommunicated from LDS. However, the church did continue to support plural marriages that existed at the time of the manifesto.

The FLDS was founded in 1935 by a group of polygynist Mormons who had been ejected from the LDS. The FLDS' main membership is now centered in the twin cities of Colorado City, AZ and Hildale, UT. All administrative power is concentrated in a single leader, who is currently Warren Jeffs, (1956 -) ₂He appointed a single administrator over the Bountiful group: Winston Blackmore. Jeffs later removed Blackmore from control, replacing him with Bishop James Oler. Blackmore has since organized a splinter Fundamentalist Mormon group. ₃ By mid-2006, the two groups were approximately equal in numbers in Bountiful. ₄

The FLDS is a secretive organization. Little precise information about the FLDS is available to outsiders. As a result, most of the information comes from critics of the FLDS or from ex-FLDS members who have left the group. These can be unreliable sources. Even less information is available about the Canadian group. They have a policy of not talking to the media.

FLDS - Canada's beliefs and practices:

Polygyny presents obvious problems for a religious group or community. Since roughly equal numbers of boy and girl babies are born, it takes extraordinary steps to provide men with multiple wives. Policies have to be developed to control:

Benjamin Bistline spent part of his childhood among polygynists in the main FLDS group in what is now called Colorado City, AZ. He has written a book about his experiences. ₅ He has observed that in order to maintain a culture in which most men have many wives, it is necessary to persuade or force most male youths to leave the community at a relatively young age. Teenaged women with restricted education are then matched up with older men, preferably before they develop an interest in boys their own age. After an unregistered marriage, the new wives often financially support the family by applying for welfare as single mothers. It is quite possible that the same policies are pursued in the Bountiful group. The U.S. and Canadian branches appear to be closely linked. There have been allegations in the U.S. and Canadian media that teenage women have been transported from the U.S. group to supply men in Bountiful with additional brides.

According to The Economist magazine, and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's Fifth Estate TV program, some of the unusual theological beliefs and practices of the FLDS are:

Also according to The Economist, critics say that the schools run by the Canadian branch of the FLDS provide minimal education. Boys are trained as farm and forest laborers. Girls are trained to be"

"... young brides and mothers....Women who have fled tell of girls as young as 13 being married off to polygamous men three times their age; of babies born to girls of 14 and 15; and of under-age girls being brought in from similar American communes for arranged marriages and to serve as 'breeding stock'."

According to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation,

"...some men have close to 30 wives and father up to 80 children....teenage girls are married to men old enough to be their grandfathers".₇

Initial bigamy allegations:

In 1990, some women who had fled Bountiful demanded an investigation into why the police were ignoring the multiple marriages in the town. Two years later, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) conducted an investigation in Bountiful and recommended that charges of polygamy be laid against two men. ₁ The Attorney General of the province of British Columbia decided to not proceed. The office obtained two independent legal opinions. Both agreed that the courts would probably find the federal anti-bigamy law to be unconstitutional. It conflicts with the Mormons' religious freedom as guaranteed by Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms -- the country's constitution. If brought to court, the Province would probably lose the case.

The racism/white supremacy allegations:

In recent years, the Ministry of Education in the province has become concerned about the quality of education in Bountiful. They give about $500,000 in Canadian funds (about in $380,000 U.S. dollars) annually to schools there. The ministry is concerned about allegations that the local schools teach racism and white supremacy. The Fundamentalist Church is believed to follow the original teachings of Mormon founder Joseph Smith. According to sociologist Amand L. Mauss, a president of the Mormon History Association, the Mormon movement's  racist beliefs originated within Protestant denominations from which many Mormons converted. He said: "Every major Protestant denomination in history has taught that blacks are descendants of Cain and Ham." ₉ These beliefs were repudiated in 1978 by the LDS. The church received a second major revelation from God at that time. LDS leaders announced that, for the first time, "all worthy male members of the Church may be ordained to the priesthood without regard for race or color." Racism within the church was instantly terminated. Male African-Americans are now regarded as full members of the LDS. Women of all races are still excluded from ordination. Since the FLDS was founded before the LDS repudiated its racist doctrine, it is quite possible that the FLDS still teaches racism to its members.

The British Columbia Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA) sent a letter to Gordon Campbell, the Premier of the province. It said, in part:

"Critics allege that the schools' teachings are inconsistent with the provincial curriculum. The high and early dropout rates of these schools indicate that Bountiful students are not receiving an education that will allow them to function outside the community or to be knowledgeable about their rights as citizens. The high dropout rates and alleged failures to meet provincial curriculum standards raise serious questions about the ability of this community to run its own schools or to educate its children on its own. A careful investigation must be undertaken to respond to these questions....Schedule I, section 1 of the Independent School Act also states that in order to receive certification by a provincial inspector, an educational program must not 'promote or foster doctrines of… racial or ethnic superiority… [or] religious intolerance'." ₁₀

BCCLA President John Russell suggests that "Bountiful's two...schools' religious curriculum is sexist and racist." ₁₁

The child abuse allegations:

According to Daniel Girard of The Toronto Star:

"Bountiful....has long been the subject of allegations of sexual abuse and of teenaged girls being made concubines or 'celestial wives' of men who are much older and already have several other wives." ₁₃

A new RCMP team has been organized to investigate allegations of child abuse at Bountiful. Attorney-General Geoff Plant said in an interview on 2004-JUL-23:

"The groundswell of public concern has reached a point where government and the police, in my view, have an obligation to act. It's a priority to investigate the many allegations being made....What truly offends the majority of people who hear about these allegations goes beyond the question of multiple marriages. It includes suggestions there are children who are being sexually exploited, girls being transported across the border, and so on."

Plant had received a letter in 2004-MAY from Debbie Palmer, a woman with eight children from three assigned marriages. She fled Bountiful in 1988 and has since become a crusader against what she calls the "illegal cross-border trade in Canadian and American female children for sexual and breeding purposes." ₁₃ Her letter contained her personal account as an alleged sexual abuse victim.

Jancis Andrews, an activist working for women's rights, helped Palmer write the letter. She welcomed news of a police investigation, saying that it is "welcome and very long overdue." She described polygyny as "the poisonous root" -- the source of the various problems that the police will be investigating. She continued:

"This is a cult, a totally medieval, screwed up, grotesque philosophy. And, I truly believe that when the public realizes the gross injustices and contraventions of human rights that are taking place there, it will have to be done away with." ₁₂

A total of nine women fugitives from Bountiful have filed a complaint with the Attorney General. They alleging that polygamy exists in the town, and that girls as young as 13 are being sexually abused. The Attorney General says that he has:

"... indicated [to police that] the existence of a constitutional opinion on the enforceability of [the law on polygamy] is not a reason for the entire public criminal-justice system to sit on its hands."

Recent developments:

"We want to speak out about the (government) allegations here. We also want people to know we are not forced into our relationships and the women here are not moronic or uneducated....Pre-arranged marriages don't happen. Fifteen-year-olds don't have to be married to 75-year-old men....All religions have got their things, their rules. If there is child molesting, if cases like that come up, we go to the RCMP."

As many as 80 women planed to hold a massive press conference to discuss their lives.

RCMP Staff Sgt. Jim Delnea was in charge of the Creston detachment until 2000. He said: "During my tenure in Creston, there was nothing to indicate anything like the recent charges was going on in Bountiful."

Audrey Vance, co-chairman of Altering Destiny Through Education, a group dedicated to helping women escape Bountiful, said:

"Under that religion, the girls are taught to have babies as soon as they can. But the young girls are stuck -- what do you do with no education and all these babies? You stay put." ₁₁₄

"I know that Winston has been positioning himself to be a available as a leader for any of the ones who have become disillusioned. ... The lines are quite firmly drawn. The fact that Jim accepted the position under Warren to be a bishop was quite a shock to all of us because Jim and Winston had been quite close. The blood is just boiling over there. There's some really bad feelings right now." ₄

References:

The following information sources were used to prepare and update the above essay. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still active today.

1. "Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought," 1998-Summer, Page 14.
2. Brooke Adams, "Thou Shalt Obey," Salt Lake Tribune, 2004-MAR-14, in the archives at: http://www.sltrib.com  Reprinted by RelgionNewsBlog at: http://www.religionnewsblog.com/
3. "Polygamy in Canada: Hunting Bountiful. Ending a half a century of exploitation," The Economist, 2004-JUL-8, at: http://www.economist.com/
4. Jeremy Hainsworth, "Polygamy: Polygamist leader's arrest sets stage for cross-border FLDS power struggle," Canoe, 2006-AUG-30, at: http://www.religionnewsblog.com/
5. Benjamin Bistline, "The Polygamists: A History of Colorado City, Arizona," Agreka Books, (2004). Read reviews or order this book safely from Amazon.com online book store
6. "Polygamy in Canada: Hunting Bountiful. Ending a half a century of exploitation," The Economist, 2004-JUL-8, at: http://www.economist.com/
7. Script of "Polygamy in Bountiful," The Fifth Estate TV program, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, broadcast on 2003-JAN-15.
8. "Leaving Bountiful: polygamy film receives standing ovation," 2002-NOV-16, at: http://www.exmormon.org/
9. D.M. Quinn, "LDS Church authority and new plural marriages, 1890 - 1904," at: http://www.lds-mormon.com/
10. "Investigation of Bountiful schools," British Columbia Civil Liberties Association Newsflash, 2004-JUL-14, at: http://www.bccla.org/
11. "Civil liberties group calls for investigation of Bountiful schools,"  British Columbia Civil Liberties Association Newsflash, 2004-JUL-20, at: http://www.bccla.org/
12. Daniel Girard, "Sex abuse allegations spur probe by RCMP. B.C. commune is home to sect. Polygamist group investigated earlier," The Toronto Star, 2004-JUL-24, at: http://www.thestar.com/
13. "Leaving Bountiful: A documentary film," at: http://www.bountiful.ca/
14. "UMW Action Alert - Fundamentalism: A Barrier to Peace and Justice," United Methodist Women, 2004-JAN-30, at: http://gbgm-umc.org/

Copyright © 2004 to 2008 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Originally written: 2004-JUL-25
Latest update: 2008-APR-23
Author: B.A. Robinson