At the same time, young men are necessary to the community. officials.Īll four are expected to appear in court October 9. In 2009, the communitys rival leaders, Winston Blackmore and James Oler, faced trial for polygamy. The child removal charges are the result of an investigation by U.S. Allegedly one or more of his wives married at age 15. Concerns were raised about young girls being transported to and from Canada for arranged marriages.Ī special prosecutor in Canada started an investigation into the men in January 2012. Winston Blackmore, the leader of Canada’s largest polygamist groups, has at least 20 wives and more than 100 children. Jeffs attempted to excommunicate Blackmore when he took control over the church after the death of his father, Rulon Jeffs.Ĭritics, including some former FLDS church members, have accused church leaders of forcing teenage girls into arranged marriages with much-older men. Oler leads a FLDS faction that is loyal to church leader Warren Jeffs, who was convicted of being an accomplice to rape for arranging marriages involving young girls. Oler, Brandon Blackmore and Emily Crossfield also face charges of sending girls from Canada to the United States for sexual purposes. The mainstream Mormon church renounced polygamy in 1890 as a condition of Utah receiving statehood. In 2011 the chief justice of British Columbia’s highest court, Robert Bauman, ruled that Canada’s anti-polygamy law is valid and does not violate the group’s religious freedom, clearing the way for new charges. It’s the second time in five years the two men have been accused of polygamy. Winston Blackmore had told his many children and his many wives in the past that he could be arrested one day and charged with polygamy. Merlin Blackmore, 19, comes from Canada’s largest polygamist family and has spoken out about his unusual upbringing on TikTok. A handful of those wives were among the estimated 100 to 300 FLDS members living in Boundary County at the time.īlackmore and Oler are bishops of separate factions of the FLDS. Janu11:43AM A teenager and his two brothers have revealed what it’s like to live in a family of 150, while their dad has a staggering 27 wives. In 2009 it was reported that Blackmore had fathered more than 100 children and had at least 19 wives, according to a story in The Spokesman-Review. They teach that the only way to go to heaven is if men have multiple wives and have as many children as possible. Among these immigrants were the grandparents of Winston Blackmore. Winston Blackmore and James Oler have ties to other members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints living in Boundary County, Idaho, as well as in communities in Arizona, Texas and Utah. In 1845, led by Brigham Young, the Mormons had to leave Nauvoo, to settle in remote. Two leaders of a polygamous Mormon community in Bountiful, British Columbia, face criminal charges of keeping more than one wife, according to Canadian officials.
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