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enforce the law

For many years, successive B.C. attorneys-general refused to charge polygamists in Bountiful, and the excuse was always the same: The law likely infringes the polygamists' freedom of religion, the A-Gs maintained, and therefore the law would not withstand a constitutional challenge.

Like many predictions, that went down in flames this week, as B.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert Bauman upheld the law. He concluded that while the law does infringe freedom of religion, the infringement is justified because polygamy is inherently harmful.

Indeed, Bauman spent a great deal of time reviewing the testimony of expert witnesses who have studied polygamy in both fundamentalist Mormon and Muslim communities around the world. In every case, they found that polygamy harms women, men and children.

Women in plural marriages tend to suffer from higher rates of depression and other mental health problems, and are also at greater risk of physical abuse than women in monogamous relationships. Polygamous women also enjoy little economic freedom or security, particularly if and when they end the relationship.

Yet while women are often unequal to men in polygamous communities, the men, too, suffer. Notably, given the competition for brides, many young men are drummed out and forced to survive in an unfamiliar world with little in the way of education or life skills.

As one can gather, children might very well suffer the most. Children of plural marriages experience higher rates of abuse and neglect, higher rates of emotional and behaviour problems, and lower rates of educational success.

It was this testimony of the harms of polygamy, and the fact that they seem to occur whenever and wherever polygamy exists, that led Bauman to conclude the practice is inherently harmful. That provided him with good reason to conclude that the polygamy law is a reasonable infringement of the right to freedom of religion.

But it provides something else as well: Specifically, it provides law enforcement with a good reason to pursue charges against polygamists in B.C. Since the law has withstood a constitutional challenge, the fear that the law will be struck down is gone. But more importantly, given the myriad harms caused by polygamy, law enforcement risks compounding those dangers if it refuses to do its job.

Certainly, Bauman's decision might be appealed to the B.C. Court of Appeal and ultimately, to the Supreme Court of Canada. And, certainly, those courts could come to a different conclusion. But given the finding that polygamy is inherently harmful, it will be difficult to strike it down.

In any case, an appellate court decision is months, or more likely, years away. During that time, many women, men and children could be adversely affected. If law enforcement personnel refuse to proceed, then shame on them. And if we, the people of B.C., fail to demand that law enforcement does its job - if we allow the situation in Bountiful to continue - then shame on us.