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Joseph Smith revelation
Officially recorded date of Mormonism's founder Joseph Smith having a revelation about celestial or polygamous marriages. -
U.S. prohitibs polygamy
U.S. enacts law prohibiting polygamy. -
Charles O. Card asks for special dispensation
Charles O. Card, who is wanted for polygamy in the United States, goes with two others to Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald asking for special dispensation to bring their plural wives and other families to Canada. Macdonald says no and the next year brings in legislation outlawing polygamy. -
Wilford Woodruff renounces polygamy
Wilford Woodruff, the head of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, renounces the practice of polygamy. -
Harold Blackmore breaks away
Winston Blackmore's uncle, Harold Blackmore, breaks away from the mainstream Mormon church over the issue of polygamy. He buys property outside Creston, B.C. and establishes the community that will come to be called Bountiful. Blackmore is affiliated with other polygamists -- fundamentalist Mormons -- living along the Utah-Arizona border in a community called Short Creek. -
Ray Blackmore takes control
Winston Blackmore's father, Ray, takes control of Bountiful away from Harold. -
RCMP concludes investigation
RCMP conclude a 13-month investigation and recommend charges be laid against Winston Blackmore and Dalmon Oler for practising polygamy. -
Attorney-General decision
Attorney-general Colin Gabelman decides not to lay charges after getting legal opinions that the polygamy section of the Criminal Code would not withstand a Charter challenge. -
Winston Blackmore excommunicated
Winston Blackmore is excommunicated by Warren Jeffs, who succeeded his father, Rulon, as the prophet of the FLDS. Jim Oler is appointed bishop. Jeffs is the spiritual leader to some 10,000 followers in the U.S. as well as the residents of Bountiful, who broke away from the mainstream church over the polygamy issue. -
Debbie Palmer files complaint
Debbie Palmer, third wife of Winston Blackmore's father Ray, and several others, files a complaint with the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal.By the time Palmer left Bountiful in 1988, she had eight children and three different husbands. She was married to her first husband when she was 15; he was 57 and already had five wives. He was also her step-grandfather. Palmer took all of her children when she left Bountiful. -
RCMP investigates
After receiving a letter from someone in Bountiful alleging abuse, B.C. attorney-general Geoff Plant asks RCMP to investigate. -
Winston Blackmore admission
Blackmore holds a polygamy summit in Creston. At the summit, he says that his son married a 14-year-old. He also admits that he has married "several under-aged girls." -
Wally Oppal comments
Wally Oppal is appointed attorney-general of British Columbia and describes the situation in Bountiful as "intolerable." -
Warren Jeffs arrested
Warren Jeffs is arrested outside Las Vegas on a routine traffic stop. -
Jeffs on FBI most wanted
FBI puts Warren Jeffs on its 10 Most Wanted list. -
Winston Blackmore on CNN
Winston Blackmore goes on CNN with Larry King and admits to being a polygamist and having 'married' several girls who were 16 and one who was 15. -
Richard Peck recommendation
Special prosecutor Richard Peck recommends to Oppal that rather than laying charges, the province should refer the polygamy law to the B.C. Court of Appeal to determine whether it is constitutionally sound. Oppal disagrees. -
Wally Oppal appoints prosecutor
Wally Oppal appoints another special prosecutor, Leonard Doust to review the evidence RCMP collected and review Peck's decision. -
Warren Jeffs convicted
FLDS prophet Warren Jeffs is convicted on two counts as an accomplice to rape of a 14-year-old girl, whom he had forced to marry her 19-year-old first cousin. -
Leonard Doust reports to Oppal
Doust reports to Oppal that he agrees with Peck and recommends a court reference. Oppal is still not convinced. -
Oppal appoints Terry Robertson
Oppal appoints Terry Robertson as special prosecutor, who subsequently asks RCMP to do more investigating. -
Jim Older and Winston Blackmore charged
RCMP Sgt. Terry Jacklin swears information about Jim Oler and Winston Blackmore, charging each with one count of practising polygamy. -
Blackmore and Oler charges dismissed
Criminal polygamy charges against Winston Blackmore and Jim Oler are thrown out by B.C. Supreme Court Judge Sunni Stromberg-Stein. -
Bountiful denied payment of legal costs
Justice Robert Bauman rules that Winston Blackmore's participation and that of his 500 or so followers from Bountiful is not necessary in the reference case, and there is no reason for taxpayers to pay their legal costs of participating in the reference case. -
Reference case begins
A reference case to determine the constitutionality of Section 293 of the Criminal Code of Canada, which outlaws polygamy, begins before Chief Justice Robert Bauman of the B.C. Supreme Court. -
Judge Campbell Miller rules
Judge Campbell Miller rules that Winston Blackmore will get no ban on publication of evidence and witness testimony; no order restricting the use of evidence and witness testimony in any possible future criminal prosecution under Canada's polygamy law; and, no further delay in the tax trial. -
Justice Robert Bauman rules
Justice Robert Bauman, after hearing 42 days of legal arguments with opposing parties arguing the right to religious freedom and the risk of harm polygamy poses to women and children, rules upholding Canada's polygamy laws are constitutional, but cannot be used to prosecute children aged 12 to 17. -
Court upholds Canadian ban on polygamy
A Canadian provincial court upholds the country's ban on polygamy, saying that the harm that polygamy causes to women and children outweighs any infringement of religious freedoms.
