Investigation launched into polygamous sect dubbed 'Canada's dirty little secret'
The Telegraph/August 5, 2004
By Catherine Elsworth
The peace of a secretive polygamous sect that has quietly practised its controversial - and illegal - way of life in a remote part of Canada for more than 60 years is about to be shattered.
Murmurings about alleged sexual abuse and forced marriage within the 1,000-strong community of Bountiful have reached fever pitch as women have fled the group with tales of exploitation.
The "escaped wives" claim that girls in their early teens have been compelled to wed middle-aged men and have been routinely trafficked between Canada and the group's fellow Mormon communities in Utah and Arizona.
They also complain of biased and truncated schooling that brainwashes children into following the sect's way of life and leaves them ill-equipped to live outside its confines.
Geoff Plant, the attorney general of the western Canadian province of British Columbia, has now launched an extensive investigation into the allegations.
"It's child abuse of the worst kind, within a religious context," said Audrey Vance, co-founder of a support group for former Bountiful wives in the nearby town of Creston. "One woman who left said what goes on out there is evil.
"This is Canada's dirty little secret, but no one round here wants to believe what's going on."
The community was founded in 1947 by members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a group that split from the Mormon Church. Lying about 320 miles south-west of Calgary, near the US border, it occupies a sublimely bucolic spot at the foot of the Kootenay mountains.
Bountiful does not appear on any map. There is no sign indicating its cluster of homes, some makeshift, others extensive with well-tended gardens littered with children's toys. But there are "no trespassing" notices at its edge. Few residents of Creston venture in. They lower their voices when asked about Bountiful, and explain that while they disapprove of their neighbours' lifestyle, they do not wish them ill.
Outsiders are not so sure. "Careful," a holidaying father told his teenage children heading off to buy ice cream. "This is the teenage pregnancy capital of the world."
Although polygamy is illegal under Canada's criminal code, authorities have long turned a blind eye to Bountiful because the country's Charter of Rights guarantees religious freedom.
However, demands for an official inquiry have grown louder. One of those calling for action is Debbie Palmer, 49, who fled Bountiful in 1988, taking her six children. When she was 15, she claims, she was forced to marry a 54-year-old man, becoming his sixth wife, and was later "re-assigned" to two other husbands before escaping.
Her sister, Jane Blackmore, a midwife, left Bountiful in 2002 with one of her seven children and is fighting a custody battle with the husband she is divorcing. He is Winston Blackmore, 47, who calls himself the Bishop of Bountiful, and is said to have at least 25 other "celestial" wives and more than 80 children.
"We know of girls as young as 13 involved in trafficking across the border," claimed Mrs Palmer, who now lives in Saskatchewan. "And some have been exposed to horrifically abusive situations.
"What's happening in Bountiful is very worrying. There is a lack of information and education that means young people don't have choices.
"We have really terrible concerns about what is going to happen there."
The campaigners hope the inquiry will lead to prosecutions under the province's sexual exploitation laws that seek to protect younger teenagers.
The Bountiful community was split by an internal dispute two years ago. Mr Blackmore, the leader of one group, appears confident, despite the investigation. "I have nothing to hide," he said.
His sister, Marlene Palmer, 45, a mother of six who was born in Bountiful, said: "So many lies have been told about us that we welcome this investigation.
"We hope they leave no rock unturned so everyone can see we are not hiding anything. Then maybe we can be left alone.
"No one is forced to be here. They can do whatever they want. Some of my children have chosen different lifestyles, but I still love them. They chose to leave. They did not leave because they were abused."
She defended polygamy. "Legally, the men are only married to one woman. [The other wives] feel like we are friends."
Marsha Chatwin, 27, and her sister, Zelpha, 30, who are both married to Mr Blackmore, agreed.
"I love living the way I live," said Ms Chatwin, a mother of four. "I would never change it. It was our own free will and choice and I want everybody to know that.
"We're real close. We're all family. There's always someone around and you're never alone."
Meanwhile, Mr Blackmore's Share the Light website warns Bountiful residents to brace themselves for the investigation.
"Discrimination. This is about discrimination," he writes, but adds: "Like all persecutions, I am sure we will get through it."
Even if you believe that this religious community has no right to exist (or has no right to raise children)... you must agree that there is a better way for the state to handle this.
i don't care how many grown men and women want to live together in whatever way they like , but when they involve underaged kids my sympathy stops !
i have no objection if they want to have children and are willing to let these children to be kids - however : NO underage marriage or sex with "old" men should be tolerated
Only two girls younger than 16 have ever entered into what the Women called "plural marriages."
Blackmore said it is the wife's choice, never the husband's, about whether they will participate in plural marriages.
fishin wrote:One of the things that the state is investigating is that out of the ~200 minors of the female variety they have collected from the coumpound, 5 are pregnant.
Overall, Texas has the 5th highest pregnancy rate for minors in the country at 62 per 1000.
Extrapolating that out, the compound is running at a rate of 25 per 1000 - less than half of the state rate.
Now, I'm not saying that someone shouldn't be asking if these girls are being abused but if this is the sort of evidence the state is using to justify everything going on then there are going to be some huge issues very quickly here.
The issue for the compound is minor girls impregnated by ADULT males. Doesn't the pregnancy rate for minors in Texas overall involve UNDERAGE males?
wandeljw wrote:fishin wrote:One of the things that the state is investigating is that out of the ~200 minors of the female variety they have collected from the coumpound, 5 are pregnant.
Overall, Texas has the 5th highest pregnancy rate for minors in the country at 62 per 1000.
Extrapolating that out, the compound is running at a rate of 25 per 1000 - less than half of the state rate.
Now, I'm not saying that someone shouldn't be asking if these girls are being abused but if this is the sort of evidence the state is using to justify everything going on then there are going to be some huge issues very quickly here.
The issue for the compound is minor girls impregnated by ADULT males. Doesn't the pregnancy rate for minors in Texas overall involve UNDERAGE males?
From what I've been reading the State of Texas has NO IDEA who impregnated them and they had no idea how many were pregnant when they began the raid. (There has been discussion about running DNA tests on every member from the compound to try to sort out some of that.)
They are justifiying their "suspicion" on the fact that 5 of the 200 girls were pregnant. If that (in itself) is adequate cause for suspicion that the girls were impregnated by adults then they'd better lock down the rest of the state and get busy testing.
The question I am raising is "Did they have justification for the raid when they went in or did they conduct the raid to find evidence to create "after the fact" justifation?".
The longer this is going on, the longer it is looking like the latter is true.
fishin wrote:wandeljw wrote:fishin wrote:One of the things that the state is investigating is that out of the ~200 minors of the female variety they have collected from the coumpound, 5 are pregnant.
Overall, Texas has the 5th highest pregnancy rate for minors in the country at 62 per 1000.
Extrapolating that out, the compound is running at a rate of 25 per 1000 - less than half of the state rate.
Now, I'm not saying that someone shouldn't be asking if these girls are being abused but if this is the sort of evidence the state is using to justify everything going on then there are going to be some huge issues very quickly here.
The issue for the compound is minor girls impregnated by ADULT males. Doesn't the pregnancy rate for minors in Texas overall involve UNDERAGE males?
From what I've been reading the State of Texas has NO IDEA who impregnated them and they had no idea how many were pregnant when they began the raid. (There has been discussion about running DNA tests on every member from the compound to try to sort out some of that.)
They are justifiying their "suspicion" on the fact that 5 of the 200 girls were pregnant. If that (in itself) is adequate cause for suspicion that the girls were impregnated by adults then they'd better lock down the rest of the state and get busy testing.
The question I am raising is "Did they have justification for the raid when they went in or did they conduct the raid to find evidence to create "after the fact" justifation?".
The longer this is going on, the longer it is looking like the latter is true.
There is another basis for the suspicion that the five girls were impregnated by adults. Almost all the teenagers at the compound are girls. Boys leave the compound when they are teenagers to earn money for their family. Girls are never allowed to leave the compound.
From today's court hearing:
"Why are there more girls than boys at the ranch," another child's attorney asks.
"Normally, during the teenage years, the boys will begin working outside the community to earn money," the expert says.
In addition, of course, the imprisoned leader of FLDS, Warren Jeffs, has been known to arrange marriages for girls as young as 13.
Polygamous-sect children ordered to stay in Texas custody
By MICHELLE ROBERTS Associated Press Writer
© 2008 The Associated Press
SAN ANGELO, Texas ?- The more than 400 children taken from a ranch run by a polygamous sect will stay in state custody and be subject to genetic testing to sort out family relationships that have confounded welfare authorities, a judge ruled Friday.
State District Judge Barbara Walther heard 21 hours of testimony over two days before ruling that the children would be kept in custody while the state continues to investigate allegations of abuse stemming from the teachings of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
"This is but the beginning," Walther said.
Individual hearings will be set for the children over the next several weeks, and the judge will determine whether they are moved into permanent foster care or can be returned to their parents. All hearings must be held by June 5.
Walther also ordered that all 416 children and parents be given genetic tests. Child welfare officials say they've had difficulty determining how the children and adults are related because of evasive or changing answers.
A mobile genetic lab will take samples Monday at the main shelter where children are being kept; parents will be able to submit samples Tuesday in Eldorado, closer to the ranch.
The custody case is one of the largest and most convoluted in U.S. history. The ruling capped two days of marathon testimony that sometimes descended into chaos as hundreds of lawyers for the children and parents competed to defend their clients in two large rooms linked by a video feed.
Attorneys popped up with objections in a courtroom and nearby auditorium, then queued up down the aisle to cross-examine witnesses in a mass hearing that frustrated attorneys and stretched the small-town court system.
The April 3 raid on the Yearning For Zion Ranch was prompted by a call made to a family violence shelter, purportedly by a 16-year-old girl who said her 50-year-old husband beat and raped her. That girl has never been identified.
The state of Texas argued it should be allowed to keep the children because the sect's teaching encourages girls younger than 18 to enter spiritual marriages with older men and produce as many children as possible. Its attorneys argued that the culture put all the girls at risk and potentially turned the boys into future predators.
A witness for the parents who was presented by defense lawyers as an expert on the FLDS disputed that the girls have no say in who they marry.
"I believe the girls are given a real choice," said W. John Walsh. "Girls have successfully said, 'No, this is not a good match for me,' and they remained in good standing."
But Dr. Bruce Perry, a psychiatrist who has studied children in cults, testified that the girls will not refuse marriages because they are indoctrinated to believe disobedience will lead to their damnation.
The renegade Mormon sect's belief system "is abusive. The culture is very authoritarian," he said.
Perry acknowledged that many adults at the ranch are loving parents and that the boys seemed emotionally healthy. When asked whether the belief system really endangered the older boys or young children, Perry said, "I have lost sleep over that question."
He also conceded that the children, taught from birth to believe that contact with the outside world will lead to eternal damnation, would suffer if placed in traditional foster care.
"If these children are kept in the custody of the state, there would have to be exceptional and innovative programmatic elements for these children and their families," he said. "The traditional foster care system would be destructive for these children."
Child Protective Services spokeswoman Marleigh Meisner said the department believes the children will now be safe.
It's not clear how quickly they might be moved from the coliseum and fairgrounds, where they are staying on cots, and into foster homes or other temporary housing. But they could be placed with family members if the department determines the children will be safe, Meisner said.
Four women testified Friday, and all said they were free to make their own choices. They also said they would do whatever it took to get their children returned to them.
"We're a peaceful people," Lucille Nielson said. Life on their 1,700-acre gated ranch "is very peaceful. You can feel the peace when you are there. Very loving. We raise our children in a loving environment."
But the women also acknowledged that girls get married at ages younger than the state allows.
Some of the women bowed their heads when the judge issued her order to keep the children in state custody. They left the columned courthouse stoically, ignoring questions shouted by reporters.
They'll face more hearings, and some could be required to take steps to prove to Child Protective Services that they should be allowed to regain custody.
Tim Edwards, a lawyer for four mothers, said the women would follow the judge's ruling.
"We are going to comply with the orders of the court; we're going to cooperate with CPS and their requirements and do everything within our power to turn the situation around," he said.
Texas Rangers also are investigating a Colorado woman as a "person of interest" related to calls made to a family crisis center. Police arrested Rozita Swinton, 33, on Wednesday in Colorado Springs on a misdemeanor charge of false reporting to authorities for a call she made in late February.
Authorities did not say whether a call by Swinton might be the one that triggered the raid.
But officers who searched her home found items suggesting a possible connection between Swinton and calls regarding a compound owned by FLDS in Arizona and one in Eldorado, the Texas Department of Public Safety said late Friday. The items weren't identified.
"The information, evidence and a statement obtained from Swinton by the Texas Rangers while they were in Colorado will be forwarded to state and federal prosecutors for their review and determination as to whether Swinton will be charged with a criminal offense," the statement said.
Swinton's whereabouts were unknown, and it wasn't known whether she had an attorney. A phone number for her in Colorado Springs was disconnected.
Authorities in Colorado confirmed Swinton has a history of making false reports.
___
Associated Press writers Jennifer Dobner in San Angelo and George Merritt in Denver contributed to this report.
it was the discovery of several pregnant underage girls that compelled CPS to remove all of the children.
Houston Chronicle (online)
edgarblythe wrote:it was the discovery of several pregnant underage girls that compelled CPS to remove all of the children.
Houston Chronicle (online)
How many religious congregations are there where you wouldn't find several teenage pregnancies?
This is an awfully low bar (unequally applied to one religious group) to justify taking away people's children with no evidence of abuse other than their religious affiliation.
