The Secret Lives of Saints by Daphne Bramham

Author:Daphne Bramham
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House of Canada
Published: 2009-09-14T16:00:00+00:00

In early 1992, the RCMP wrapped up its investigation of Dalmon Oler and Winston Blackmore and sent its recommendation to Attorney General Colin Gabelmann that the pair be charged with polygamy. But it turned out that Dalmon Oler had been right not to waste any sleep worrying about being charged. On June 11, 1992, regional Crown counsel Hermann Rohrmoser issued a press release that said no charges of bigamy or polygamy would be laid. He said the decision was based on “exhaustive research undertaken by constitutional experts,” who unanimously concluded the relevant sections of the Criminal Code are unconstitutional.

The bigamy section says it is illegal for anyone who is married to go through “a form of marriage” with another person in Canada, or to leave Canada with the intent to marry another person, to marry someone who is already married or to “simultaneously” marry more than one person.

Another section says anyone who “practises or enters into or in any manner agrees or consents to practise or enter into any form of polygamy or any conjugal union with more than one person at the same time whether or not it is by law recognized as a binding form of marriage; or who celebrates, assists or is party to a rite, ceremony, contract or consent that purports to sanction [such] a relationship” is guilty of polygamy.

Rohrmoser said the province’s legal experts found the polygamy section to be “in direct conflict with the freedom of religion guarantees in…the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and cannot be justified.” One of those experts was retired Court of Appeal justice Richard P. Anderson, who was quoted in the press release saying that the polygamy law was “obsolete and apart from being unconstitutional is inadequate to solve the real problems confronting society.” Anderson had urged the government “not to persist in expensive and time-consuming litigation.”

Before Rohrmoser’s press release was issued, Gabelmann—who is not a lawyer—had taken the judge’s advice to federal Justice Minister Kim Campbell. Gabelmann asked her to have the antipolygamy sections of the Criminal Code rewritten so that they might withstand a constitutional challenge. Gabelmann’s belief that the law wasn’t good enough was bolstered by the opinion of Environment Minister Andrew Petter, a lawyer and constitutional expert. But in Ottawa, Campbell and her experts disagreed with the B.C. position.

Campbell—a lawyer who never practised law—had no love for the B.C. New Democrats. She had been a backbencher in British Columbia’s Social Credit government before switching to federal politics. Campbell had even aspired to lead the B.C. wing of the party that Winston Blackmore’s grandfather had once led nationally. She placed last in that contest, with only fourteen votes on the first ballot. But her speech with its pointed assessment of the eventual winner—Bill Vander Zalm—made national headlines. “Charisma without substance is a dangerous thing,” she said. “It raises expectations that cannot be satisfied. Then comes disillusionment and bitterness that destroys not only the leader, but the party.” Both Vander Zalm and the B.C. Social Credit Party disappeared a few years later.

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