Polygamy In Canada

We know in our society today there are many different types of families. They range from nuclear families which consist of a mother, father, and children to blended families which consist of two families coming together following a divorce. For the sole purpose of this essay, however, we will be looking into a type a family which is different than most of the others; which is called Polygamy. Polygamy is defined as “The practice or Custom of having more than one wife or husband at the same time” (Oxford Dictionary). The term polygamy acts as an umbrella term for the simple reason there are different types of this practice. The most common practice of polygamy and the one this essay will be looking into specifically is called polygyny which
is the custom of having more than one wife (Cheal and Albanese, 55). An example of this type of polygamy would be the TLC TV series called “Sister Wives” where one man is married to four different women and between them, they raise 19 children; As well as the Blackmore family from Canada. To begin the in-depth analysis of the practice of polygamy, it is crucial that we first take a look into the history of Polygamy and see where it began. The second aspect we will look into for this paper is how polygamy has grown through the years, by doing this we will look into how polygamy gained its bad reputation, through doing research on Warren Jeff’s. Finally, the last aspect this paper will be looking into is the way society views polygamy today and the legalities of it. All In all, the hopes of this paper is to answer the question why do some people believe this is such a horrible lifestyle for families to practice and most importantly, why do some people believe that this type of practice will hurt the children involved. As already mentioned, the first aspect of polygamy we will look into is the history of it, to see where it began. From previously research conducted, it was made evident that the practice of polygamy had been practiced in much of the world such as China, Greece, Polynesia, and Africa (History of Polygamy - Polygamy Articles). However, even though the practice was being used in different parts of the world, it did not reach North America until the eighteen hundred’s when Joseph Smith a member of the Church of the latter-day Saints believed that god wanted him to share this practice with others or in other words "He knew the voice of God—he knew the commandment of the Almighty to him was to go forward—to set the example, and establish Celestial plural marriage” (History Of Polygamy). From here, the practice spread amongst many of the members of the church as Joseph Smith did what he believed God would want of him. Consequently, though, the practice was not fully accepted by many members of the church or of society for the simple reason that The Book of Mormon states that “practicing Polygamy was and is viewed as adultery” (History of Polygamy). Although it was made known that polygamy was an act of adultery that did not stop people from practicing it. It wasn’t until August 29 of 1852, that a man named Elder Orson Pratt publically discussed and openly defended the practice itself in the church of the Latter-day Saints. The main argument he made during this discussion was that “as heir of the keys required anciently for plural marriages to be sanctioned by God, was required to perform such marriages as part of the restoration of god”( History of Polygamy). It is unclear how many LDS members actually participated in the practice of polygamy at that time, however, there are studies showing that roughly 20 to 25 percent of LDS adults were members of polygamous households (History of Polygamy - Polygamy Articles). From here, we know that there are few families who have continued to use the practice of polygamy- such as the Brown family in Utah who are the stars of “Sister Wives” and the Blackmore Family from British Columbia who are prime examples of families that are experiencing backlash from others because of the lifestyle they chose to live. This is due to the fact that there are very few LDS that believe in this practice still today. With that being said, we will continue to our next section to see how polygamy grew with society. As a continuation, it is important to look at how polygamy grew with society before we are able to fully understand why many people do not believe the practice is acceptable today. When it comes to looking at how the practice of polygamy’s bad reputation grew with society it is important to begin with looking at Warren Jeff’s. Warren Jeff’s was the most famous of out of the fundamentalist Mormon leaders for the simple reason he gained so much media attention for practicing polygamy in Utah and Arizona. It is said that Jeff’s had somewhere around eighty or more wives who most of which were underage girls. For the safety of the children, there are no exact numbers as to how many children Jeff’s and his near eighty wives had ("Warren Jeff’s”). What caused Jeff’s to stand out more than any of the other FLDS leaders is the fact that his practice of polygamy was slightly different than others for the simple reason he was very controlling of everyone in the community. So much so that he dictated what the community members would wear and who they would marry (“Warren Jeff’s”). It wasn’t until 2006 that the world would fully know about Warren Jeffs, though. In 2006 Jeff’s was arrested for committing rape, being an accessory to rape, committing sexual acts with minors ( his own children) and an unlawful flight from the police to avoid his prosecution (Berkowitz 617). This moment that blanketed the media and newspapers was an eye opener for many people as it allowed others to see that many LDS and FLDS were still practicing the act of polygamy. From here things only got worse, many of Jeff’s children began to speak out to the media to let them know what was really happening inside the community they lived in. Sadly, this allowed for the world to see that the charges in which Jeff’s was arrested for were all sadly true. Eventually, the world would learn that Warren Jeff’s would be sentenced to life in prison for all the crimes he was convicted of (Berkowitz 632). The Warren Jeff’s case really caused many individuals to believe that anyone who practiced polygamy were horrible beings and were very likely to commit the same crimes that Jeff’s did. It is very evident that this case is the reason that polygamy has such a bad reputation even though it has been ten years since his conviction and sentencing, many people's ideas of polygamy have not changed. The last aspect we will look into the impact of polygamy on the upbringing of children and the legalities behind the practice.
After the Warren Jeff’s case, it would be very hard for any families who have continued to practice polygamy publically, due to the amount of horror the world just witnessed of the harm one man did to a community. However, not every plural marriage family that continues to practice polygamy is like Jeff’s community. When it comes to looking into the legalities behind polygamy, in Canada according to “Section 293 of the Criminal Code of Canada explicitly bans polygamy and threatens offenders with a five-year prison term” (CBC News). The worry of being thrown in jail for five years have caused many Canadian polygamist families to go into hiding from the government. However, there has been a few families that have openly come out saying they are a polygamist family and have shared their experiences with the rest of the world. For a family from BC, a court tried to claim that practicing polygamy would lead to harm for everyone involved meaning the wives, children, society and harm to monogamy, this idea was appealed and later thrown out (CBC News). Although there are many people who believe that practicing polygamy is horrible, there are few who believe that doing so would be a way to spread the love. According to “The Good Men Project” having children after entering a marriage is a way to bring joy and if one of the women are not able to have a
child of her own, then the man will bring in another wife and both wives would share the responsibilities of taking care of the child. If anything, it is very clear that having more than one wife or husband would not have a negative impact on the children in the family. It would allow for however many wives to share words a wisdom on all the children in the family and for each child to know no matter what they are loved. Even though society has witnessed the horror that Jeff’s did, it unfortunately shaped many people’s views on this practice and ultimately has some people living in secret because they are scared of the backlash they will receive, although, they are raising a family and allowing for children to be cared and loved by more than two parents. In conclusion, it is very evident that the act of practicing polygamy is a very controversial topic in our society.
Although polygamy has been around for many decades, we have been witnesses to how several groups of people in our society look at the practice. Although from the research that was conducted for the purpose of this paper we are able to understand that the thought of doing this practice was not openly accepted in early decades by all; however, it wasn’t until the world learned about what Warren Jeff’s did to his wives and children of his community that the most of the world was completely against plural marriages and plural families. It was after the Warren Jeff’s case that many people believed that plural families would not be suitable for children to be brought up in, however, as we have seen that is not the case. Plural marriage allows for the sharing of children to be loved by many individuals. It is quite clear that the questions this essay set out to look into have now been answered. Yes, polygamy might not be the most common and viewed as the best way to raise a family that being said, as long as the family is caring and loving and raising the children without causing any harm to them then they should be able to live in peace with the lifestyle they have
chosen.