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Furore over call to legalize polygamy |
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A federal Justice Department study calling for polygamy to be legalized
is generating controversy in Canada, with many seeing this as a natural
progression from the sanctioning of same-sex marriages. The study has
implications on how applications from many prospective immigrants from
Muslim countries are handled.
Canada receives thousands of applications from Africa and the Middle
East, where polygamy is legally and religiously sanctioned. Currently,
immigration officers can refuse entry to individuals practising
polygamy.
The Justice Department study says the law banning polygamy should be overturned to help women and children living in such multiple-spouse relationships.
“Criminalization does not address the harms associated with valid foreign polygamous marriages and plural unions, in particular the harms to women,” says the report.
The research paper is part of a controversial $150,000 polygamy project, launched a year ago and paid for by the Justice Department and Status of Women Canada.
The paper by three law professors at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, argues that Section 293 of the Criminal Code banning polygamy serves no useful purpose and in any case is rarely prosecuted.
Instead, the report urges, Canadian laws should be changed to better accommodate the problems of women in polygamous marriages, providing them clearer spousal support and inheritance rights.
The report also concludes the courts might well rule that Canada's law banning polygamy is a violation of Canada's constitutional guarantee of freedom of religion.
Currently, there's a hodgepodge of legislation across the provinces, some of which — Ontario, for example — give limited recognition to foreign polygamous marriages for the purposes of spousal support. Some jurisdictions provide no relief at all.
The Justice Department project was prompted in part by an RCMP investigation into the religious community of Bountiful in Creston, British Columbia, where polygamy is practised openly.
The British Columbia government has long been considering whether to lay charges under Section 293.
Editorial commentators and newspaper readers were overwhelmingly against the report's recommendations. Many blasted the Liberal Party for pushing through legislation approving same-sex marriages, saying that was the start of Canada heading down a slippery slope on the issue of morals.
Some suggested the gay marriage law would now open the door to polygamy and even bestiality.
Liberal Justice Minister Irwin Cotler was quoted as saying he had seen a summary of the research reports, but rejected lifting the criminal ban on polygamy.
“At this point, the practice of polygamy, bigamy and incest are criminal offences in Canada and will continue to be,” he told Canadian Press (CP).
The report's chief author Martha Bailey said criminalizing polygamy, typically a marriage involving one man and several wives, serves no good purpose and prosecutions could do damage to the women and children in such relationships.
“Why criminalize the behaviour?” she told CP in a separate interview. “We don't criminalize adultery.
Bailey said Canada should offer some recognition to polygamous marriages that are legally valid in foreign countries to help protect women's rights here.
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Newsfile 