Winston Blackmore (born August 25, 1956) is the leader of a

polygamous Crimes Polygamy (from Late Greek (') "state of marriage to many spouses") is the practice of marriage, marrying multiple spouses. When a man is married to more than one wife at the same time, sociologists call this polygyny. When a woman is ...

Fundamentalist Latter Day Saint religious group in

Bountiful, British Columbia Bountiful is a settlement in the Creston Valley of southeastern British Columbia, Canada, near Cranbrook and Creston. The closest community is Lister, British Columbia. Bountiful is made up of members of two polygamist Mormon fundamentalist g ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. He is described as "Canada's best-known avowed polygamist". He has 150 children with his 27 "spiritual" wives, some of whom he has admitted were underage.

Leadership and excommunication

The polygamous community at Bountiful was founded by Blackmore's father, Ray Blackmore, and his great-uncle, Harold Blackmore. Ray later removed Harold and took full control of Bountiful. Winston Blackmore was born to Ray and Anna Mae Blackmore on August 25, 1956. He was the ninth of her 13 children. Anna Mae was the first of Ray's six wives, and the only one he was legally married to. For two decades, Blackmore was the

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

of the

, group of the

Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS Church) is a religious sect of the fundamentalist Mormon denominations whose members practice polygamy. The fundamentalist Mormon movement emerged in the early 20th century, ...

(FLDS Church), a polygamist community in the

Creston Valley The Creston Valley Wildlife Management Area is a Canadian river delta wetland and Wildlife Management Area near Creston in south-central British Columbia, on the floodplain of the Kootenay River at the south end of Kootenay Lake. Predominantly m ...

. Upon the death of

Rulon Jeffs Rulon may refer to: Persons with the surname Rulon: *Kelly Rulon (born 1984), 2004 Olympian in water polo Persons with the given name Rulon: *Rulon C. Allred (1906-1977), leader of the Apostolic United Brethren *Rulon Davis (born 1982), defensive ...

, Winston Blackmore was considered as one of two potential successors for the role of the president of the

, the other being Warren Jeffs. Blackmore and Jeffs had roughly equal support. Jeffs ultimately succeeded his father, largely due to having played an increasingly significant role in the church during the period preceding Rulon's death. In September 2002, Warren Jeffs

excommunicated Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to end or at least regulate the communion of a member of a congregation with other members of the religious institution who are in normal communion with each other. The purpose ...

Blackmore.Canadian Press
"Court rules against B.C. polygamous leader Winston Blackmore, issues $150,000 in penalties"
''

National Post The ''National Post'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper available in several cities in central and western Canada. The paper is the flagship publication of Postmedia Network and is published Mondays through Saturdays, with ...

'', 28 August 2013.Canadian Press
"Polygamous family deemed unworthy of special tax status"

CBC News CBC News is a division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the news gathering and production of news programs on the corporation's English-language operations, namely CBC Television, CBC Radio, CBC News Network, and CBC.ca. ...

, 4 May 2012. But Blackmore asserts that he left the church of his own accord. The community of Bountiful was split nearly in half—about 400 people followed Blackmore, and the rest followed Jeffs. Blackmore went on to found the

Church of Jesus Christ (Original Doctrine) Inc. The Church of Jesus Christ (Original Doctrine) Inc. is a Mormon fundamentalist denomination in the Latter Day Saint movement, and is also known as the Blackmore Group.Utah Attorney General's Office and Arizona Attorney General's OfficeThe Primer, ...

Canadian polygamy case

Blackmore and another community leader,

James Oler James Marion Oler (born 1964) is the bishop of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS Church) in Canada, and has been convicted of being a practicing polygamist. The polygamy case brought against Oler is considered ...

, were arrested by the

Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal police, federal and national police service of ...

in January 2009 and charged with polygamy. The charges were thrown out later, owing to questions about how the Crown selected its prosecutors. The case was reopened by the provincial government in 2014, with the B.C. Supreme Court confirming that polygamy is against the law in a constitutional case. Blackmore's lawyers attempted to appeal the case, which was overruled in May 2016. Blackmore's trial began on April 18, 2017. On July 24, 2017, Blackmore was found guilty of polygamy in the

British Columbia Supreme Court British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

. He and Oler face up to five years in prison for violation of Section 293 of the Criminal Code of Canada. On May 15, 2018, in

Cranbrook, British Columbia Cranbrook ( ) is a city in southeast British Columbia, Canada, located on the west side of the Kootenay River at its confluence with the St. Mary River (British Columbia), St. Mary's River. It is the largest urban centre in the region known as the ...

, special prosecutor Peter Wilson recommended a jail sentence of between 90 days and six months for Blackmore and a term of one month to 90 days for Oler. On 27 June 2018, Justice Sheri Ann Donegan sentenced Blackmore to six months'

house arrest In justice and law, house arrest (also called home confinement, home detention, or, in modern times, electronic monitoring) is a measure by which a person is confined by the authorities to their residence. Travel is usually restricted, if all ...

. Oler was sentenced to three months' house arrest.

Family

As of August 31, 2019, Blackmore has married 27 wives and has 150 children. He is the nephew of former Social Credit Party of Canada leader

John Horne Blackmore John Horne Blackmore (March 27, 1890 – May 2, 1971) was a Canadian school teacher and principal and Canadian politician. He was one of the first elected members and leaders of the Social Credit Party of Canada, a political party in Canada th ...

who, though not a polygamist himself, was excommunicated by

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...

in 1947 for "teaching and advocating the doctrine of plural marriage". As an MP, the elder Blackmore urged Parliament to repeal the anti-polygamy law and succeeded in removing specific references to Mormons in the law. Blackmore is also related to anti-polygamy activists

Carolyn Jessop Carolyn Jessop (born January 1, 1968) is an American author and former Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints member who wrote ''Escape'', an autobiographical account of her upbringing in the polygamist sect and later flight f ...

, a former FLDS member and author, and

Ruby Jessop Ruby Jessop (born May 3, 1986) is an American former member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) and Child marriage, child bride known for her family connections, her 2013 escape from an FLDS-controlled polygamo ...

. His family operates J R Blackmore & Sons Ltd, a timber milling business.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blackmore, Winston 1956 births Living people 21st-century Canadian criminals Canadian Christian religious leaders Canadian Latter Day Saints Canadian male criminals Crime in British Columbia Mormon fundamentalist leaders People excommunicated by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Place of birth missing (living people)