The Amicus Speaks

George MacIntosh and Tim Dickson for the Amicus took the court through a wide-ranging rebuttal of defenders' arguments to this point.

James Keller, in the Globe and Mail, wrote as follows:

Canadians in relationships with multiple partners shouldn't be turned into criminals because of alleged abuses in a small, isolated community in British Columbia, says a lawyer arguing against the anti-polygamy law.

George Macintosh, a lawyer appointed to oppose the government at constitutional hearings, said Monday the current law against polygamy is far too broad.

He said it targets not just polygamous men who abuse women and children, but also people in multi-partner relationships that aren't harming anyone.

Much of the evidence in the case has focused on the small, religious sect of Bountiful, B.C., where residents follow the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, or FLDS.

But Mr. Macintosh said the question isn't whether bad things are happening in a single community.  “The attorneys [general of B.C. and Canada] focused virtually the whole case on what would clearly be criminal behaviour by some FLDS people,” Mr. Macintosh told Chief Justice Robert Bauman during closing arguments.

“I would urge you to redirect the spotlight to what is the central issue, and that is: Is Section 293 [of the Criminal Code] constitutionally justifiable? ... It would expose some [polyamourists] to criminal prosecution only for being in an open and honest and committed relationship.”

The case was prompted by the failed prosecution of two men from Bountiful. Unlike the mainstream Mormon church, the community and the FLDS believe practising polygamy will help followers reach the highest level of heaven.

The provincial and federal governments have pointed to Bountiful to argue polygamy is always bad, inherently leading to a long list of alleged abuses, including physical and sexual abuse, child brides and human trafficking.

Mr. Macintosh said the law, as it's currently written, doesn't target abuse. Even in abusive polygamous relationships, he said, the law also makes criminals out of wives and children, who the governments have insisted are victims in need of protection.

He also noted even supporters of the law can't agree on what exactly it prohibits.

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