As journalists, we have the opportunity to meet many amazing people. Some are quiet and humble, some are loud and in your face. But what most of them have in common is a crusade, a desire to make our world a better place for their fellow citizens.
Jane Blackmore is one of those people. A slight, middle-aged, composed woman, Blackmore is a thorn in the side of some very powerful men who live in southeastern B.C. For what Blackmore wants more than anything else is something most of us take for granted as Canadians the right for young women and young men to control their own destinies.
Blackmore, the first and only legal wife of Winston Blackmore, a bishop in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (FLDS) tells of harrowing happenings at the FLDS enclave. Although situated smack dab in the Kootenays, the settlement would be at home in any third-world country, anywhere that allows men to "marry" as many times as they chose, anyone they chose, always, of course, sanctioned by their own perverted word of their god.
Jane's personal story should make all Canadians cringe. Just one year after her father joined the FLDS he was "honoured" by the prophet with a second wife, a 15-year-old child. When Jane's mother died from congenital heart disease in 1961, a third wife, also 15, was assigned to the worthy man. This child-wife had spent most of her life in foster homes and had come to the community only two years before not much preparation for the life of a concubine. This scenario was continued in Jane's adult life until eventually her husband "married" 26 women, some of whom were also underage.
For most fathers in this country, the thought of their daughters being assigned to a man old enough, in some cases, to be their grandfather makes their skin crawl. For most mothers in this country, the dream for their sons is get an education, a vocation they enjoy and eventually a wife they love and who loves them in return. This is not possible for many of the young men born to FLDS families. These young men are threats to the elders, and as such are expendable. These barely educated boys, completely lacking in social skills, are cast adrift to fend for themselves. Small wonder they're called the Lost Boys.
There will be more on the pitiful, repulsive life within Bountiful next week in Coast Reporter. We urge you to educate yourself on this blight in our midst. If you care about the fates of these young people, email, write or phone MLA Nicholas Simons, Premier Gordon Campbell and Prime Minister Stephen Harper. These children and Jane Blackmore need to know we care.
