Winston Blackmore & polygamy: The Bishop of Bountiful B.C. - The Fifth Estate

[Music] the thousands of elementary schools in Canada only one teaches its students how to become a God here preparing for the greatest law to become a god Rockefeller know that become a God if he only has one one be a God you must have many minds he don't do this and abide it he will be damned the voice belongs to the prophet of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day saints no relation to the mainstream Mormon Church for over two decades the Canadian voice of this breakaway sect belonged to Winston Blackmore they were polygamists in the Old Testament so I would just say that that's as good a place as any to explain the divinity of polygamy and if you don't live that way what happens to you go to hell God's endorsement of polygamy is the core belief of some 1000 people living in a secluded and secretive community called bountiful it's tucked away in the preston valley lying in the shadow of the east Kootenai mountains of British Columbia this peaceful valley holds some pretty sensational secrets about men who father up to 80 children with some 30 wives about teenage girls who are forced into marriage with men old enough to be their grandfathers it's all part of a belief that the more children a man produces the better his chances of entering the celestial kingdom finding salvation and possibly becoming a God himself I think the negative focus on our religion as a felony is disgusting this 10 year old footage provides a rare glimpse into Winston Blackmore the longtime leader of bountiful he likes to preach to the converted not talk to reporters but after months of negotiation Blackmore agreed to sit down with the Fifth Estate although he was reluctant to discuss his twenty plus wives and 80 children who said I have 20 wives and 80 children Oh how many wives and how many children do you have well I'm certainly not here to talk about my private life I have agreed to say that I have more wives than one that's your private life I got one husband I'll tell you well good for you and I hope you love him and take care of him and and don't criticize him and support him and do all the things that wives should do with their husbands and I sure would hope that you wouldn't sit around here with people and talk about your private life because I'd scold you for doing that I think you would yes I would because of no more interested in that and I think that the public should be interested in mine so how many wives do you have I have enough so I don't have to worry about anybody else's this is Blackmore was more forthcoming she says she is the first of 26 wives who have given Winston Blackmore 80 children men are the head of the household and are very very gifted in knowing what women should do if a man is very good and has some favor in the eyes of the Prophet then he's given a position and more wise and women should do what men tell them to do I'm just I I don't understand this or the theological application for this I don't either because that's where men to know and women to obey this polygamous rule book called purity in the new and everlasting covenant of marriage lays out the doctrine on which they base their religion it explains plural marriage is a sacred ordinance designed to take a man into the eternal world and exalt him and make a God out of him it is all based on God's command to Adams to go forward and multiply well this group takes it literally they believe the practice of polygamy is a holy law that stands above and beyond any human law 46 year-old Jane Blackmore was born into this to believe the only way she would get to heaven is if some man invited her so subservience compliance and dependence were the rule they expected that I would be a very obedient girl and do what my parents wanted me to do and grow up and marry whom I was appointed to marry and be a mother did you ever waver in that ever no I didn't being a polygamist has never been easy much righteous score and was heaped on them as far back as 1890 when the official Mormon Church banned the practice threatening excommunication authorities would round them up and throw them in jail so the Renegades fled some to Colorado City on the Utah Arizona border and some to Cardston Alberta but in time their polygamous lifestyle began to disappear so the real diehards decided to pack up and venture even farther west trying to keep one step ahead of the law by that time Ottawa had declared polygamy a criminal offense and it was that legislation that made this isolated corner of the Creston valley away from prying and judgmental eyes so appealing British Columbia was a perfect place right there close to the border you can get lost and you can do whatever you want to do really and people aren't going to ask questions Debbie Palmer spent 34 years in Bountiful it was particularly important for Bountiful to be a safe haven for polygamist that were training to become eligible to go to the highest degree of glory of the celestial kingdom to become gods and goddesses so they could live this sacred law of plural and celestial marriage and be unbothered by the rest of the world Debbie Palmer and Jayne Blackmore are sisters from a prominent family their father Dalman Oller who helped found bountiful back in 1947 had six wives and forty seven children Debbie Jane and the other girls were expected to be demure unobtrusive and obedient especially in front of Daddy on this wall over here is a picture of all 45 of my children these are the latest photographs that we have he would father two more before he died in 1998 remembering all their names was tough so children born in a certain year were all given names beginning with the same letter these are the keys we had four boys were little girl more than one year and this is the a series his eldest daughter Debbie was only 15 when her father gave her away to become wife number 6 - a 57 year old man your stepmother - how many children - 32 children and you were 15 yes I was most of his children were older than I was but a 16 year old girl even if you were a fervent believer this is a 57 year old man it's got to be scary if that's all you've ever known and you see girls that age being married to men that age and older all the time it's really not that difficult of a stretch of the imagination there are 36 children in this kindergarten class seven or olders six Palmer's and there are 22 Blackmore's bloodlines in Bountiful intersect a lot that's the danger of any closed society ending up in the shallow end of the gene pool [Music] this is where bountiful comes looking for new blood the head office of their religion just north of the Grand Canyon in Colorado City ten thousand people living in polygamy children here are taught outsiders are evil and that women are the servants of men that's the reason break Chatwin believes this is a cult and why she got out eleven years ago girls raised in this cult and there is just an enormous amount they have no comprehension of an outside world it bothers me that I'm that males here with authority use their authority to leverage sexual favors from young girls that's essentially what they're doing they take young why these older men now using their authority positions to gain access to young females and they do it by the hordes the brother here in pop positions have 50 plus 5 unbelievable [Music] it also seems unbelievable to ron barton who is with the utah state attorney general's office a seasoned cop he was surprised that what he found while investigating child abuse and incest in some polygamous communities if a man an older man seduces a thirteen-year-old girl he doesn't commit in his own mind he doesn't commit sexual abuse on that girl once he's successful in having intercourse with her then in his own mind he views himself as married if no one comes forward to complain Barton has no case if it's not bothering anybody why don't we all just mind our own business well that's been the attitude for many years in Utah and I think in other states where fundamentalists live is that this is a victimless crime they're not bothering anybody nobody is being injured and that's simply not true we establish laws to protect young women and we can't have a second standard for girls that grow up in Colorado City a lesser standard and say that's that's fair Craig Chatwin worries about his sisters he left the polygamous community behind when he was 19 but he fears they are trapped and phacelia Nicaea his bountiful ended up being particularly interesting to me because that's where the majority of my sisters were marriage I'm from a rather large family have about 30 brothers and sisters 32 and the majority of those live in Canada and they've all been married up there now it's about 11 or 12 sisters all shipped up there two of Chatwin's sisters married the same man Winston Blackmore who bristles at any questions about his 26 wives or his religion I'm just a guy who wants to mind his own business and raise his family and I have a nice family by the way and I do love my ladies by the way and I love my children you see polygamy as a divine institution this is what I would like to understand why is polygamy a divine institution maybe I should ask you a question do you believe in the old test or do you think that it is a divine writing you can't say that you can take the Bible if you're if you're any kind of religious person at all you can take the Bible and read the Old Testament and come out of there with a feeling that there's absolutely nothing divine about the principle of people adding more wives than one this brings you closer to God well it is a very important part of our faith and belief in the last 10 years traffic has been heavy on the road to bountiful Colorado City has provided Blackmore's community with a lot of ladies nearly doubling its population it's also raised alarm bells for the Canadian immigration officers on the Idaho BC border because there were a lot of visitors coming in and a whole lot less going back Carol Anderson has turned some of these American girls away she knew where they were headed and why I refused admission to them because they didn't think they were visitors I receive the ignition because I felt they would come in here to get married there is no class under Canada's immigration law by which they can be sponsored in as a plural self the law prohibits because this is very interesting under the Immigration Act it's it's illegal to have multiple wives but nobody's prosecuting any one in Canada for polygamy it's a very interesting position and that's one that I feel the government is going to have to deal with so far it hasn't in fact nine years ago three Colorado City girls living in Bountiful or denied immigrant status they appeal to Ottawa on humanitarian grounds and they won their now landed immigrants entitled to all benefits including social assistance health care and a child tax credit when we return family life in bountiful it's all about sex it really is we are not talking about our private life that's pornography I wouldn't ask you how you organize your sex life [Music] this is bountiful a community nestled in an idyllic corner of southeastern British Columbia on the Idaho border where folks marry and procreate with religious zeal the polygamy is next to godliness and it couldn't begin to understand Jane Blackmore has seven children and four grandchildren and she has shared her husband Winston Blackmore with 25 other women why is it so hard to approach some understanding well before you can understand you have to basically be born into the community and he taught back way of life Jane Blackmore was not only born into it she lived it dutifully for over two decades as the first of Winston Blackmore's 26 wives this former bishop was the most powerful man in Bountiful he decided who should marry whom and who deserve to have more wives than the next guy I'm trying to understand polygamy oh well okay then why do you think that I should be able to make you understand polygamy because you were the bishop for almost 20 years you were Andy plus twenty plus well so I'm asking the right person these sorts of questions oh you think you are why are you laughing I'm laughing because I think that it would be no there's absolutely no in the world way in the world that I could explain that to you please try I don't think that there's one bit of sense of me trying to explain a whole bunch of tenants of our religion to a bunch of people who are not interested it's really about secrecy about keeping sweet that's the polygamous motto that is prominently displayed everywhere for everyone to see to keep sweet is to be obedient and to be quiet by the time she was 34 Debbie Palmer could not keep quiet anymore about what she says is multiple marriage masquerading as religion is life and bountiful about sex or salvation it's all about sex so it really is and there there's a great pretense that that it's very moral sort of back to basics family fundamentalist type of communities but there's their sex everywhere what are the logistics of of intercourse how does it work to somebody keep a big chart and say old Betty you're ovulating Thursdays your night I know in the in the larger families they do do that they have to do yes they have to because it was like I mean in a good-sized dairy you have to know when a cow is going to come around so that she can be serviced properly by the by the bull and or you don't have Casa and you don't have an cows freshened properly and if you've got very many wives in your family and somebody needs to keep track of that the statistics of Palmer's life were a little overwhelming six mothers 46 siblings three husbands eight children 86 stepchildren one of whom is Winston Blackmore I was a stepmother several of his sisters were married to my father so he was an uncle to me I was actually ended up being a step grandmother to him as well and one of the really horrific things about some of the ingredients that has happened in the polygamous communities is that most of the men that have been in positions of control that have instigated these marriages or men that have studied breeding breeding stalking animals this is all based on animal husbandry yes it is Debbie Palmer has committed a cardinal sin breaking a vow of silence and going public with allegations of incest and abuse that has made her a traitor in Winston Blackmore's eyes Debbie Palmer has been taking mental treatments and if you were to look you would find out that that wasn't a whole bunch unkind because that's what she has been doing but I'm gonna tell you this like I said the source of all her mental anguish is bountiful well I would certainly disagree with that but Gary comer is whatever she is you know what I'm not going to sit here and criticize her I wish her well and in everything that she's basically doing but you know I hope that someday she can find some peace driving through bountiful is like a journey back in time what is most noticeable is the number of young pregnant girls with toddlers in tow most bountiful brides are married in the eyes of their religion but not under the law a law which says children under 16 need not only their parent's permission but a judge's signature and when it comes to sex a child between 12 and 14 may have intercourse but their partner must be less than two years older how come in your community old men marry young girls there's not very many people that are much older than I am in our community but they do get married at 14 and 15 they there's been nobody getting married at 14 to my knowledge and tell me this seriously is a kid really on it but I know of there has been at 50 but they have to have their parents consent and they have to have a reason you know 15 is kind of young don't you think I certainly do think it is so I think it's kind of young do you discourage girls as young as 15 I discourage them you do them doing that yes I do what is the what is the youngest that you know of a girl getting married 14 so when I spoke to Winston Blackmore I asked him about that young girls 14 15 getting married and I asked him if he discourages it and he said yes actively he wasn't telling me the truth not in all instances no is not the truth when did you start questioning I've always had questions well I'll tell you one small story just since I have been a midwife I have a very close relationship with a lot of women from the community and there was this 15 year old girl who was married and she became pregnant just very very soon after she was married and she was crying she was she didn't want to be married she didn't want to be pregnant to 15 girls mother was married to Winston she's not Winston's daughter and I said Winston weren't you supposed to be this girl's parent like this girl mother is married to you like aren't you supposed to be her parent right I said how come how come she was married she was 15 and he said well mother I want you to mind your business because you are not the bishop and I said this is my business these girls come to me and I deal with it so I said I think this is my business and I don't think these girls should be married when a girl is married at 15 and becomes pregnant it's unlikely she will be going to her high school graduation anyway the school in Bountiful only goes up to grade 10 even so BC taxpayers fund this independent school with approximately seven hundred thousand dollars every year the chief administrator is Winston Blackmore I would like my children to stop at grade ten have an opportunity to go work for a little while and if they want to go back to school they'll go back as a mature student to get something out of high school and instead of just a play time but even grade 10 there only were two or three people who have graduated from from grade 10 well that's their business not mine that's their family's business not mine and I don't keep track of that I don't share that opinion at all I have six children out in the workforce and at least four of those six they cried when they had to quit school they wanted to go to school depriving children of an education is something Carol Anderson condemns remember she's the government employee we met earlier as an immigration officer Anderson wants to stop girls from getting into bountiful as a part-time teacher she sees education as their only way out makes me uncomfortable to talk with them talk with members of the community who have no education who might have grade one a grade two when we're talking adults ones with grade seven they don't have an education that makes me nervous because if you do decide you no longer want to practice polygamy or you no longer want to be in that community what are your options that'll air this one with the rimless yes she came out and stayed a lot of the ranch because she was Carol Anderson is grateful her mother Aloha got her and most of her siblings out of bountiful 35 years ago they left behind dozens of half sisters and brothers including a young Winston Blackmore one day many years later Blackmore surprised his sister he understood if his wives had some skills they could earn some cash so he asked Carol if she would teach some of them it's an interesting irony I'm his sister does he also see what a subversive sister this one versus doctor you are i defined subversive you want to change what's going on in his backyard but you you want to do it your way I want to give his his people not just his wives my family the people I love and education but what they choose to do with it and that's their business language is all about communication and if I can communicate clearly then I've been successful with language and I'm going to give me a topic sentence there are many types of cakes okay that was though everyday some of Blackmore's women come to Carol's class to learn to read and write and listen to some ideas they have never heard before my my Shack spit it out opening sentence he's a smart man he he sees what you're doing you just might as I am you must know the risk he knows the risks of educating people and the benefits as a midwife Jayne Blackmore brings in well over a hundred thousand dollars a year all because Winston Blackmore decided the community needed a midwife and she would be it she became so successful that now women throughout the valley seek her services when we come back polygamy politics and power we all have like extremely live so long if we honor the code of decency which allows we remind their own business [Music] the Fifth Estate will return [Music] [Music] this is the annual Battle of Britain parade making its way down canyon street in Creston British Columbia no polygamist progeny here even though the community is just a few miles down the road the fundamentalists of bountiful keep pretty much to themselves what families do come into town to stock up on groceries for the week and a few take in a hockey game at the local arena [Music] [Applause] they have been around so long and contributed so much to the economy of the place that the folks of the Creston Valley have pretty much come to accept the polygamists of bountiful as just part of the landscape mr. mayor how uncomfortable is it for you to have a band of polygamists in your backyard it's not they contribute to our community they run businesses they purchase supplies they purchase equipment they purchase services in their town it's like any other individual former mayor dawn Leoben says most of the 5,000 people in town feel the same people I think have adopted the live-and-let-live attitude you don't interfere with my pursuit of happiness I won't interfere with yours that's pretty much John kettles take on the situation this transplanted Texan is a local politician who also runs the city dump bringing orders there's rumors here about everybody let me tell you something this is what I do think if that were a Sikh community if that were a Chinese community a native community or a homosexual community you and I wouldn't be having this conversation you know I'm not a bible thumper and I'm not a very good Christian I drink smoke and I will drink coke and beer brewed here in Creston by the way every week but I'll tell you what they live their religion and I respect that I hope more people do it you're going to have a hard time finding anybody in this valley that knows them that will say anything derogatory about them because they're good people and they are a big part of what keeps cresting on the map they represent votes and cash according to someone who has a foot in both camps Carol Anderson bountiful generates a lot of money they have a big crew they have a big business and that money doesn't stay in Bountiful it goes into the community when Walmart and Crown Vic opened every female in that community was there and they spent a lot of money it's like any other church this fundamentalist sect owns a lot of property it is managed in the United State Eight's through a private trust called the united effort plan which controls assets worth more than 200 million dollars u.s. their Canadian branch in Bountiful is valued at just under 4 million dollars the united effort plans sole canadian trustee is Winston Blackmore who has accumulated considerable personal wealth outside the church the Fifth Estate has tracked Blackmore's business interests in British Columbia Alberta and Idaho everything from grain and cattle farming to forestry and transportation he'll even rent you a busy in a jiffy Winston Blackmore's estimated worth is more than fifteen million dollars but as with everything else he keeps his business to himself why are your business is privately owned because I thought it's all for the church well I owe half the national debt so before I can do anything with my property I need to get it paid off tonight why is it owned why do you own it privately started it as a business Blackmore's wealth and wives are no problem for his neighbors in Creston because says sister Carol money talks they are a major economic force and if you're in a capitalistic society that the bottom line is business the bottom line is don't bother Bountiful because they are good business the only bother Bountiful ever really got was back in 1990 when some women who had fled the sect demanded an investigation they wanted to know why Canada was turning a blind eye when the Criminal Code says any kind of marriage or conjugal union with more than one person at the same time is a criminal offence with a penalty of five years in jail the kresson RCMP did launch an investigation 420 150 thousand years old topic Creston I'll be under hood sergeant Randy cook and the investigation confirmed yeah they're polygamists I don't know that there was any denial of that fact in the Infiniti initial investigation why isn't that enough for you to go in there and make arrests the only thing I can I can't answer that question is is that there was an investigation conducted by the RCMP in this area and the evidence was gathered and it was forwarded to the Attorney General's ministry so the RCMP recommended charges in 1991 but the BC government did not approve them they were afraid that they could lose a challenge under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms British Columbia's Attorney General is Jeff plant your job is to enforce the Criminal Code polygamy is against the law why do you choose to exempt the polygamist colony of Bountiful well I don't choose to exempt them I think that polygamy per se practice between among adults may actually raise some issues around what our Constitution says in terms of the vigorous way of protects religious freedom as it now stands that it appears the people in Bountiful really don't have to answer to any authority but their own well I wouldn't say that but the I also wouldn't underestimate the complexity of the issue and I think that in the long run the system of justice will not be well served if we pursue something that fails there is that whole issue of law but there's also an issue of justice I think that's a good argument and certainly is kind of another way of putting the sense of duty I feel towards making sure that we do try to advance this thing towards some measure of resolution one way or the other Winston Blackmore is ready to do battle with the law his sword is his religion his shield is the Charter same charter that protects the gay and lesbian community and the same one that protects common-law relationships and the same one that protects unfaithful husbands and the same one that protects unfaithful wives Blackmore's marriages are celestial not legal so technically he says he's not really a polygamist just an adulterer polygamy by the definition of it is to have two relationships going at the same time and there are far more people than we are that do that I know there are but the tenant of your religion is that polygamy is a divine institution you endorse it you live it you admit to it so I don't understand well I don't understand how having a lot of wives is religious freedom well do you understand the Chargers allowance for free association yeah then you certainly ought to be able to understand the charters allowance for freedom of religion and you certainly ought to be able to understand that we all have a right to freely live so long as as we honor the code of decency which allows that everybody mind their own business so far everyone seems to be doing just that minding their own business there is no investigation going on at the moment because the RCMP says it has no appetite to lay charges if BCS Attorney General does not have the will to prosecute but the law seems pretty straightforward polygamy is a crime the federal government wants prosecuted in fact a Department of Justice briefing note dated October 93 says there are limits to religious freedom especially if religious practice comes into conflict with the law it also says Ottawa is ready to help British Columbia in any charter defend so it is up to be seized Attorney General to uphold that law these days polygamists aren't as worried about breaking the laws they are about the breakup of their church the death of the supreme ruler polygamous prophet Rulon P Jeffs left a vacuum at the top five thousand mourners gathered in Colorado City last September to say goodbye to the 93 year old wealth peace of God rule on Jeff's left an estimated 60 wives and 90 children but no one to take his place a grab for power said polygamist against polygamist until Warren Jeffs the dead prophet Sun announced he was the new prophet not everyone is happy and there is talk of a splinter group making tracks without tuefel be seen to rally round there man Winston Blackmore but his wife Jane won't be one of them she no longer wants to be one of 26 wives she no longer cares about helping her husband become a god Jane Blackmore is leaving bountiful I don't want to be part of it and I have a nine year old girl who is very intelligent and I want I don't want her to be married and she's 15 or 16 or 17 and I'll try to go to school and be the scientists that she dreams about being you pride yourself on being a strong woman well I I'm often not a strong woman what was making you so I'm happy now so sad I'm not really sad I'm just emotional [Music] [Music] a lot of years of emotion here [Music] you

Channel: The Fifth Estate

Views: 780,523

Keywords: Winston Blackmore, polygamy, Bountiful, B.C., British Columbia, Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, CBC, CBC News

Id: F474fXIyuls

Length: 39min 45sec (2385 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 24 2017