Winston Blackmore

Winston Blackmore is the leader of a Canadian polygamist group.

Bishop and excommunication

For two decades, Blackmore was the bishop of the Bountiful, British Columbia group of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS Church), a polygamist community in the Creston Valley. In September 2002, FLDS Church president Warren Jeffs excommunicated him. The community of Bountiful was split nearly in half—about 700 people continue to follow Blackmore, while about 500 follow Jeffs.^{[citation needed]}

Canadian polygamy case

Blackmore and another community leader, James Oler, were arrested by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in January 2009 and charged with polygamy.^[1] The charges were thrown out later, owing to questions about how the Crown selected its prosecutors.^[1]

Family

As of June 30, 2010, Blackmore has married 25 times and has a total of 121 children.^[2][3]

He is the nephew of former Social Credit Party of Canada leader John Horne Blackmore who, though not a polygamist himself, was excommunicated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 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 that had been in the law.^{[citation needed]}

Blackmore is also the relative of Carolyn Jessop, a former FLDS author and anti-polygamy activist, and her sister, Ruby Jessop.^[4]

Notes