Q1: What was the primary route used to move underage girls from Canada to US FLDS compounds?
A1: Sect members drove private passenger vehicles through remote border crossings between British Columbia and northern US states like Idaho and Montana. They used minimal documentation, often claiming the teenagers were traveling for family vacations, before transporting them south to Utah, Arizona, or Texas.
Q2: Did Winston Blackmore approve of sending Canadian girls to Warren Jeffs?
A2: Winston Blackmore openly feuded with Warren Jeffs after his 2002 excommunication, leading to a split in Bountiful. However, the cultural practice of arranging adolescent marriages persisted within both the loyalist faction led by James Oler and broader fundamentalist circles in the Creston Valley.
Q3: What legal precedents came out of the Canadian polygamy investigations?
A3: The legal battles established that Section 293 of the Canadian Criminal Code, which bans polygamy, is constitutionally valid because it prevents harm to women and children. It also led to precedent-setting convictions under child removal laws for transporting minors abroad for forced marriages.
