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Former Liberal Canadian Government Recognized Polygamy in Limited Fashion

By Hilary White

OTTAWA, June 1, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Documents obtained by Sun Media under access to information show that polygamous marriages had been recognized "for limited purposes" by the former Canadian Liberal Government. According to the Ottawa Sun, as reported June 1, "multiple-wife marriages have been legally recognized in Canada to award spousal support and inheritance payments."

The documents, however, including departmental background papers and ministerial briefing notes, also confirm once again that the official Liberal party policy consistently and hypocritically denied the plethora of consequences that would likely follow on abolishing the traditional Judeo-Christian definition of marriage, including the probable eventual legalization of polygamy. The documents say that allowing same-sex couples to marry would enhance democratic values by promoting the equality and dignity of the individuals, while the practice of polygamy has the potential to erode those values.

This new revelation that in fact the Liberal government had already recognized polygamous marriages, if only in a “limited fashion”, only adds to the growing evidence that the Liberal party, while publicly maintaining throughout the marriage debate that polygamy was and would always remain a criminal offence, had long contemplated, and even granted, a place for polygamous marriages in Canada.

In January of this year Canadian Press obtained a copy of a report for the Justice department that showed the Liberal government had long been considering lifting the prohibition on polygamy. "Criminalization does not address the harms associated with valid foreign polygamous marriages and plural unions, in particular the harms to women," the report said.

The movement to accept polygamy, and the increasing evidence that the former Liberal party had already begun to move in that direction, comes as no surprise to pro-family Canadians who have been warning that it is not only coming but already here in some communities.

One of those who spoke out against same-sex marriage, Dianne Watts, spokesman for REAL Women of Canada, stated that with the abolition of the traditional definition of marriage as being between a man and a woman, the government has left itself with little defense against a Charter of Rights challenge from polygamy supporters. 

Internationally syndicated Canadian columnist, Mark Steyn, wrote in January after the Justice Department report came to light: "There's a very obvious constituency for polygamy, and it says something about the monumental self-absorption of the gay marriage crowd that they seem unaware of it."

A spokesman for the Justice Department said that the full weight of the current Conservative government would be used to fight any proposal to dump the polygamy ban.

See previous LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

Canadian Government Study Suggests Legalizing Polygamy
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/jan/06011301.html

Norway’s Polygamy Problem a Sign of Things to Come
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/nov/05111508.html

Provincial Attorney-General Warns Canada's Polygamy Law Open to Legal Challenge
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/feb/05020406.html

 

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