Polygamy defence to be on Blackmore's own dime: court

B.C. polygamist leader Winston Blackmore is welcome to take part in a court review of Canada's polygamy law, but the government won't pay his legal bills, B.C.'s Supreme Court has ruled.

Blackmore went to court in March asking that he begranted party status at the review, with standing equal to government lawyers. He also requested that provincial government fund his attorneys.

In a hearing last month, his lawyer said Blackmore needed hundreds of thousands of dollars in advance to take part in the constitutional review of the law because the polygamist leader and his congregation are the test casesaround which the review is based.

But Chief Justice Robert Bauman ruled Blackmore isn't the focus of the case and the hearing can go ahead without him.

"It is undoubtedly the case that Mr. Blackmore's participation would help in developing the record which will assist the court in answering the questions on the reference, but that participation is not 'necessary'," Bauman said in the written ruling released Tuesday.

Policehave said thatBlackmore had 19 wives and more than 100 children, an allegation he hasnot challenged.

The religious leader of the southeast B.C. community of Bountiful was charged along with rival community leader James Oler last year under the polygamy law.

Blackmore and Oler lead separate factions within the fundamentalist offshoot of the Mormon Church, which officially renounced polygamy more than 100 years ago.

The charges against Blackmore and Oler were dropped over the perception the provincial government abused the special prosecutor process.

Lawyer declines comment

Rather than appeal the ruling, the provincial government decided to refer the case to the B.C. Supreme Court, asking it to decidewhether the federal law banning polygamy violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Legal experts expect the case will eventually end up in the Supreme Court of Canada.

Lawyers for the B.C. government opposed Blackmore's request for party status at the hearing, saying his participation in the case wasn't necessary and that it would proceed with or without him.

Government lawyers say their focus is squarely on the constitutionality of the polygamy laws and not on Blackmore or his congregation.

Bauman agreed and also ruledthatBlackmore's request for up-front funding wasn't justified in this situation.

"I do not accept that Mr. Blackmore has led sufficient evidence on his inability and that of his congregation to somehow fund all or part of their representation," the judge wrote.

When reached by phone, Blackmore's lawyer, Joseph Arvay,refused tocomment on the court's decision.

Blackmore filed a lawsuit in January against the B.C. government, claiming he was unlawfully prosecuted on the polygamy charges.

The RCMP began investigating allegations of polygamy in the tiny B.C. community in the 1990s, but prosecutors repeatedly shied away from laying charges over concerns the law would be declared unconstitutional.