Canadian polygamists probed

2008-06-03 10:32

Vancouver - British Columbia's top lawyer has appointed a special prosecutor to look into allegations of sexual misconduct within a western Canadian polygamist community.

Attorney General Wally Oppal said on Monday that lawyer Terrence Robertson has been appointed to assess the likelihood of criminal convictions in Bountiful, a breakaway Mormon sect of about 1 500 people that practices polygamous marriages long ago abandoned by the mainstream church. The community includes about 500 US citizens.

Oppal said Robertson will examine if there should be charges for polygamy, sexual assault, sexual exploitation or a combination of charges.

Evidence of sexual abuse

"There is evidence of sexual exploitation and sexual abuse," Oppal said. "The problems we had in the past is that we had a reluctance of witnesses to come forward."

Oppal said in April he planned to order a polygamy charge arrest or ask the courts to weigh in on Bountiful's legal standing within the month. The issue is complicated because although polygamy is banned, religious freedoms are strongly protected in Canada.

Oppal said that laws against polygamy are constitutional.

"I think that what's going on in Bountiful, or what we are told is going on in Bountiful, is something that the criminal law should look at," Oppal said.

"I think that there should be a prosecution."

At least one teenager from the community was apprehended by US authorities in April when a related polygamous community in Texas was raided.

The attorney general's office has had a file on Bountiful for at least two decades, Oppal said. The Canadian community was previously investigated in a three-year review that was launched in 2004. Detectives spent three months investigating the community as part of the review. No charges were brought.

Texas raid

Authorities raided the Texas polygamist compound and took custody of 463 children in April. Child welfare officials said the beliefs practiced there left girls at risk for sexual abuse and encouraged boys to become sexual perpetrators.

A Texas district judge has since ordered the immediate return of the children, who began reuniting with their families on Monday.

Oppal said he wants to ensure any investigation here is done properly.

"We saw what happened in Texas," Oppal said. "The authorities moved in quickly and then they found out they'd proceeded improperly."

- AP