Canadian polygamist, leader of breakaway Mormon sect, is found guilty of having 25 wives

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In this April 21, 2008, file photo, Winston Blackmore, the religious leader of the controversial polygamous community of Bountiful located near Creston, British Columbia, Canada, shares a laugh with six of his daughters and some of his grandchildren.Photo: AP

Published: 9:36am, 25 Jul 2017Updated: 9:36am, 25 Jul 2017

Two former leaders of an isolated polygamous community in Canada were convicted Monday of practicing polygamy after a decades-long legal fight, setting up another potential court battle over the constitutionality of Canada’s polygamy laws.

Winston Blackmore and James Oler were found guilty by British Columbia Supreme Court Justice Sheri Ann Donegan who said the evidence was clear that Blackmore was married to 25 women at the same time and that Oler was married to five women in the tiny community of Bountiful.

Blackmore never denied having the wives as part of his religious beliefs that call for “celestial” marriages. His lawyer Blair Suffredine has already said Blackmore would challenge the constitutionality of Canada’s polygamy laws if his client was found guilty.

The two were prosecuted as part of an investigation first launched in the early 1990s by the provincial government.

Under Canadian law, the maximum penalty they will each face is five year in prison. The two will be sentenced at future hearings.

Gail Blackmore, right, and James Oler arrive at the courthouse in Cranbrook, British Columbia, in February. Photo: AP

Blackmore and Oler are members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, a breakaway Mormon sect that believes in plural marriage. The group’s main base is in a small community on the Utah-Arizona border in the United States.