Lawyer says his client can’t afford to take part
Vancouver, BC — The Canadian Press Published on Wednesday, Apr. 28, 2010 1:32PM EDT Last updated on Wednesday, Apr. 28, 2010 4:36PM EDT
Mr. Blackmore, one of the leaders of the controversial community of Bountiful, B.C., can't afford to take part after a judge refused his request for hundreds of thousands of dollars in government money, Joseph Arvay said in an interview Wednesday.
“Unless he wins the lottery or some other source of funds comes his way, he will not be participating,” Mr. Arvay said.
“His involvement and participation in the reference would require a huge amount more legal services than one of the many varied interveners. It's going to be a very expensive hearing, and [Mr.] Blackmore can't afford it.”
Mr. Blackmore had asked the province's Supreme Court for special status and funding to take part in the case, expected to be heard in the fall.
Last week, the judge denied the application, ruling that he can have no greater role than other interveners and would have to pay his own way.
Mr. Blackmore and James Oler, the leader of a separate faction within Bountiful, were charged early last year with practising polygamy in a case that has dogged the B.C. government and RCMP for decades.
A judge later quashed the charges because the province had appointed a second special prosecutor after the first recommended against laying charges.
Rather than appealing that decision, the B.C. government asked the court to decide whether Canada's polygamy laws violate religious protections guaranteed in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Mr. Arvay had argued that the reference case will effectively put Bountiful on trial, despite the province's insistence that it would be a broad examination of the Criminal Code section that prohibits multiple marriages.
“I think it's quite ridiculous to think you can have a reference on polygamy, which came to pass all because of Bountiful, and yet the court isn't going to hear evidence from the people of Bountiful,” said Mr. Arvay.
“Yes, it's nice that he's been invited to participate, but unless he can afford to participate, that invitation rings rather hollow to him.”
There are more than a dozen interveners set to participate in the reference case, including Mr. Oler.
The groups that have applied to be involved range from religious organizations to one that advocates for people in consensual relationships with multiple partners, a practice they call polyamory.
Observers have said the case, while technically not binding on the government, will likely end up before the Supreme Court of Canada and will ultimately decide whether polygamy is a crime in Canada.
Mr. Blackmore and Mr. Oler were arrested in January 2009 after two decades of police investigations and prosecutors who repeatedly shied away from laying charges.
Mr. Blackmore was accused of having 19 wives, and Mr. Oler three.
Residents of Bountiful are members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a breakaway group from the mainstream Mormon church. The Mormon church renounced polygamy more than a century ago.
The B.C. Government is on a sick religious crusade that is at least six
generations behind reality.
Now, without any licence, permit, even a marriage license, without an AIDS test,
or Herpes or NSI declaration one can screw one's brains out having sex with as
many people as possible, create literally thousands of babies and its ALL
perfectly legal.
What the B.C. government is saying that they want it to be a CRIMINAL OFFENSE to
have more than one spouse at one time, they want every one to play Martial
Musical Chairs!
Fact is, most women can't satisfy one man enough most of the time and most men
well, get to service other women just to keep away, the D.S.B.s, you know, the
dreaded S.P.E.R.M Buildups.
When you have a "Church" that was established by one of the worlds greatest con
merchants and frauds, advocating plural marriage, its enough to revolt all the
religious groups.
Its that Mr. Smith, the same Mr. Smith who tried to create his own currency and
told all the women he met that god sent him to have sex with them. And, its that
group of women who believed him and who created between those gullible woman,
and the males who went along with the story, who , created that church.
Now if you read the writings of Mr. Blackmore, they reveal a great deal about
his psychology, he is no saint but he is not the evil that the B.C. paint him
out to be.
They literally defamed him across the country, and attempted top destroy not
only him but his entire extensive extended family.
What is more insidious is that they were out to separate him from his wives many
of whom would have had the government force them to take him to court for child
support and "impute an income".
It's when you add up all those women, and all those children, at the single
child rate, at the guidline amount that you realize that the B.C. Government, if
it was successful, would have been able to indefinitely incarcerate him FOREVER.
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The B.C. government is simply trying to destroy Mr. Blackmore and will use
all the unlimited funds at the public's expense to do it.
The courts as usual, rule everyone has to pay for their own legal costs. This is
a politically correct decision that favors the government in its vendetta
against Mr. Blackmore.
The problem is, across Canada, authorities regularly use the public funds to
attack anyone they don't like. Money the unlimited resource of the public purse,
is used to financially cripple anyone they don't like.
This decision was very predictable as is B.C. Governments desire to get Mr.
Blackmore, one way or another.
Polygamy aside, its the game the B.C. Government is playing that is despicable
and brings the administration of justice into ill-repute.
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