Affidavit # 1 of Benjamin G. Bistline Sworn July 14, 2010 No. S-097767 Vancouver Registry IN THE SUPREME COURT OF BRITISH COLUMBIA, IN THE MATTER OF: THE CONSTITUTIONAL QUESTION ACT, RS.B.C. 1996, C.68 AND IN THE MATTER OF: ‘THE CANADIAN CHARTER OF RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS AND IN THE MATTER OF: A REFERENCE BY THE {ANT GOVERNOR IN COUNCIL SET OUT IN ORDER IN COUNCIL NO. 533 DATED OCTOBER 22, 2009 CONCERNING THE CONSTITUTIONALITY OF S. 293 OF THE CRIMINAL CODE OF CANADA, RSC, 1985, ¢, C-46 AFFIDAVIT — BENJAMIN G. BISTLINE, Ministry of Attorney General Legal Services Branch 1301 -865 Hornby Street Vancouver BC V6Z 2G3 Telephone: 604 660-5476 Facsimile: 604 660-6797 Craig Jones Barrister and SolicitorAffidavit #1 of Benjamin G. Bistline Sworn July 14, 2010 No. S-097767 Vancouver Registry IN THE SUPREME COURT OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. IN THE MATTER OF: THE CONSTITUTIONAL QUESTION ACT, RS.B.C. 1996, C.68 AND IN THE MATTER OF: THE CANADIAN CHARTER OF RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS AND IN THE MATTER OF: A REFERENCE BY THE LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR IN COUNCIL SET OUT IN ORDER IN COUNCIL NO. 533 DATED OCTOBER 22, 2009 CONCERNING THE, CONSTITUTIONALITY OF S. 293 OF THE CRIMINAL CODE OF CANADA, RS.C. 1985, ¢, C-46 AFFIDAVIT 1, Benjamin G. Bistline, of Cane Beds, Mohave County, in the State of Arizona in the United States of America, MAKE OATH AND SAY AS FOLLOWS: 1. have lived amongst the polygamists in Colorado City, Arizona (formerly Short Creek, Arizona). I wrote the book, “The Polygamists A History of Colorado City, Arizona” and as such T have personal knowledge of the matters deposed to in this affidavit, unless where stated to be ed on information and belief and where so stated I believe it to be true.2 I was born in Logan, Utah on April 21, 1935. My father was John Anthony Bistline and my mother Jennie Johnston Bistline. My parents were members of the Mormon Church but were excommunicated in 1937 when they became involved with some polygamist families in Millville, Utah in 1937. My parents had 10 children altogether, I was number 6. 3. In 1945 1 moved with my parents and siblings to Short Creek, Arizona, My parents joined the united order movement also known as the United Effort Plan (the “UEP”). The UEP was a Mormon splinter group that practiced polygamy, 4. Throughout the 1940’s, 1950°s, 1960°s and 1970's, the Mormon group practicing polygamy usually referred to themselves as the “Group” or the “Effort”. The term “fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints” [or “FLDS”] was adopted from the 1980's and onward when the church leaders began to use the term to describe the group in court filings involving litigation over the UEP. 5. By 1948 my father had become disillusioned with the management of the UEP. He decided to leave the UEP and he took steps to rejoin the Mormon Church. My father died in 1949 before he was able to rejoin the Mormon Church because of their policy of a one year repentance probation period afier being excommunicated. 6. My mother always wanted to live polygamy. After my father died, my mother was sealed for time and eternity in a celestial =e eee Jessop, She was his fifth wife. £y by one of the members 7. I moved with my mother into the home of Richard Jessop in Short Creek when I was of the Priesth ool Council about 15 or 16 years old. All of the wives and children lived in one house.8 I lived in Richard Jessop's home until 1953 when the State of Arizona raided the Arizona side of the community at Short Creek. During this raid all of the minor children were declared wards of the State of Arizona. All of the minor children and their mothers were taken to Phoenix, Arizona. They were released in 1955. I was 18 years old at the time so I was not taken remaine mn : by the state. Instead, | meved—te-the-Ltak-site=efthe Short Creek comernity (Short Creek aad relied upia the Chart] of Prose ore straddles the Utah and Arizona bordeny/ The raid was a big adventure for me because I spent the ¢y4ezA) side time smuggling people across the Utah/Arizona border in Short Creek. a = short Geek Ry 9. On June 24, 1955 I married Annie Jessop. Annie was one of Richard Jessop’s daughters. 714 L meals, Thad fallen in love with Annie while living in Richard Jessop’s home. I asked Richard Jessop if 1 could court Annie and he said he wanted to talk to Leroy Johnson to make sure it was OK. Annie and | were married in a civil ceremony, and also by Richard Jessop in a celestial marriage cea sealed for time and eternity. In 1992, Annie and I were also mas#fed in the Mormon temple. My Book ~ “The Polygamists A History of Colorado City. Arizona 10. I started writing my book in about 1990. The source material I relied on is footnoted in I the book. The sources include my own personal experiences and observations, county records, court filings, Joseph Musser's personal writings, interviews with members of the UEP and Mormon off-shoot groups such as the Allreds, 11. Attached to my affidavit and marked as Exhibit “A” is a copy of the book that I wrote entitled, “The Polygamists A History of Colorado City, Arizona” which was published in 2004‘The Priesthood Work 12, In accordance with the teachings of Joseph Smith, the mainstream Mormon church is led by a President, council of the 12 apostles, and two councillors to the President. There was a bit of a different structure among polygamist Mormons. The polygamist Mormons for many years (until about 1980) had a “Priesthood Council” of 7, under the ultimate leadership of the President, Decisions which significantly impacted the community were made by the Priesthood Council. 13. The Priesthood Council, through Leroy Johnson and the other Council Members, taught Church of . : us that we were members of theJesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (“LDS”). While the LDS. Church did not recognize us as members of their church, we believed that all who joined our church either as a fundamentalist or by being born into the community and baptized at age 8 years olde were members of the LDS. The Priesthood Council taught us that the LDS was God’s Church, and that while the LDS church was out of order because of giving up polygamy, the “One Mighty and Strong” would come and set the LDS Church in order. When the One Might and Strong came the leadership of the LDS Church would be turned over to the Priesthood Council. They also taught that there was no need to build temples as once the One Mighty and Strong came and the LDS was restored, there would be plenty of temples. 14, There have been splinter groups of the Mormon church practicing polygamy since the Mormon church officially abandoned polygamy 1890, The UEP was formally established around 1943 by John Barlow, who was then president of the Priesthood Couneil. A number of the group moved down to Short Creek where Leroy Johnson (a member of Barlow's PriesthoodCouneil) owned land. Most other members of the group lived in Salt Lake City. John Barlow died in 1949, Charles Zitting took over from John Barlow, until he died in 1954. In 1984, Leroy His principle residenée, wa 3s Johnson took over as president of the Priesthood Council. Hetiwad-in Salt Lake City. ? . A few years afler- 5 ‘Adfar the raid on Short Creek in 1953, the UEP leaders decided to sell the Short Creek land off and centralize in Salt Lake City. Marion Hammon (another member of the Priesthood Council) persuaded the leaders he should have the opportunity to save the Short Creek ‘community so the plan to sell the land was not carried out 16. Inthe early 1980°s, a dispute arose between Leroy Johnson and Rulon Jeffs on one side, and Marion Hammon and Alma Timpson on the other as to whether the community should continue to be governed by a Council (the Hammon/Timpson position), or by one man rule (the Johnson/Jefts position). One man rule ultimately prevailed and Hammon and Timpson left Short Creek to establish a community called Centennial Park. There is still a group of people practicing polygamy in Centennial Park. 17. Leroy Johnson continued as the President (and was often called the “prophet”) after the one man rule was established. After Leroy’s death, Rulon Jeffs became president (prophet), and after Rulon it was Rulon’s son Warren. Marriage 18 The only sealing work completed by the Priesthood Council was the marriage covenant The convent was one of the guiding principles of our religion. It sealed us to our wife or husband for time and all eternity and required us to multiply and replenish the earth. The Priesthood Council claimed that a temple was not necessary to seal marriages under the marriagecovenant as it was the authority that validates the Ordinance not the place. The Priesthood Couneil claimed to be the only ones on earth to seal a marriage for time and all eternity. They also claimed to have the power to dictate who every girl was to marry. 19, Atthe time that I married, men were permitted to court their future wives, however they hhad to go to someone on the Priesthood Council to ask permission to court and marry a git! of his choice. As I explai my book at page 120 By the mid-1950s this policy had become a major concern to the Priesthood Council. It created two problems. Any girl after reaching about 13 years-old would have a great number of suitors coming to her, all having claimed to have a revelation that she was to marry him, greatly confusing her young and tender mind. ‘The other (and no doubt greater problem) was that the girls would invariably choose the younger man, making it almost impossible for the older Brethren to get new wives. The people were taught that only a member of the Priesthood Council could get a revelation of who a girl “belonged to” (should marry). 20. The doctrine of placement was first preached to the people in the late 1950s, It began to be practiced at about the same ti Under the doctrine of placement the Priesthood Council members (and later the President/prophet) would have a revelation about who should marry who. Neither the girls nor the men had a choice in the matter, although the men in particular might be able to influence the choice depending on their status with the Priesthood Council. 21. As each member of the Priesthood Couneil could have revelation about who a girl was to marry cliques were formed with each Council member placing the girls within his clique when they became of marriageable age. In practical terms, this meant if a man wanted to get a wife he had to align himself with one of the Priesthood council members. Nepotism ruled who would get a wife and at what age they would marry. The effect of this was that the sons of Councilmembers would not only be the youngest to marry they were also the ones judged worthy of being polygamists. ‘The sons of the Priesthood leaders would be assigned wives before the men of less prominent families. This caused bitter feelings amongst the boys and their families. At page 121 of my book I explain that The Polygamists teach that love is not necessary before marriage. Women are inferior to men and must lear to school their feelings, yielding to the desires of their husband, The girls of Colorado City Polygamists are considered as chattel, to be used by the leaders to reward faithful men of the Group for their support of the Priesthood Work, Very few of them ever achieve any more than bearing as many children as possible, usually between the number of 15-20. Most are expected to work tuming what money they eam over to their husband to use as he sees fit, A few ‘become school teachers to work in the public schools, while others become nurses to work in the hospitals of nearby communities. None are ever allowed to become professors, doctors, lawyers, or achieve other professional goals. Mostly they ‘work at whatever unskilled jobs are available in the area, 23. Once the FLDS moved to one-man rule under Leroy Johnson (initially), revelations about who was to marry who came from the President (prophet) and not the Priesthood Council. the Missions for the Men 24, At about the same time as the doctrine of placing girls in marriage was being taught by the Priesthood Council, Marion Hammon organized a missionary program. Under the missionary program young men were called to go on a Work Mission. ‘The young men were to give 2 years of their time building up the UEP and in exchange they would be given a wife and a lot upon which to build a house.25. The men would either be assigned to work on Priesthood projects or be asked to seek paying jobs in the outside communities where they would be required to tun their entire paychecks over to Marion Hammon. 26. During their Work Mission the young men were to be provided for by their parents. While the young men were told that their Work Mission would be two years they were often not released (given a wife and a lot upon which to build a house) for up to 5 years. This put a huge financial strain on their parents. surplus Boys: 27. The practice of polygamy in Colorado City created an excess of boys in the community which lead to the leadership taking steps to run the boys out of town. The practice was not as prevalent in the 1960s but reached its peak in the 1970s and 1980s. As I explain in my book@* pages 142443 ° The birth ratio of boys to girls among the Polygamists is the same as it is anywhere in the world, pretty much one boy to one girl. If one man has even two wives, then some boy in the society must not get married. ‘The doctrine of the Polygamists is that a man must have at least three wives to reach the highest degree of heaven, The perceived importance of a man goes up bthe number of wives he has, thus the ratio of wives to a man is important; those in leadership positions have wives numbering into the tens. ‘This causes a dilemma for the Polygamist Leaders, what to do with the surplus of boys. It is only natural for boys and girls to be attracted to each other. Most girls relate more to boys near their own age, rather than man ten to thirty years older (the extreme is a 17 year old girl marrying a ninety-five-year-old man). In later years these young people have learned how to beat the system. If a boy and a girl decide that they want to get married, they simply have sex with each other, then go to the Prophet and confess their sin. He tells them to have a civil marriage, wait a year, come back to see him and if he feels they have repented, they can get rebaptized and he will seal them to each other. It becomes paramount then to keep the boys and girls separated at all costs; only under very strict supervision are they allowed to associate with each other. Since this is not always possible, it became necessary to establish a “Teenage Chastity Patrol,” with Sam Barlow at its head. His primary police duties in the next fifteen o twenty years evolved to that of running the surplus boys out of town, making itpossible for the “worthy” men to live the Law of Celestial Marriage by adding more wives. He was able to do this by trumping up some criminal charge against the boy that he would select to eliminate from the society. He would then harass the offender (under his peace officer status) until finally he would leave (some of these young boys were as young as 13 years old). Relationship with Bountiful Canada 28. There was a group of people who followed the Priesthood Couneil of Short Creek (Colorado City) who lived in Lister, British Columbia, Canada (Bountiful). Throughout the 1950s the people of Bountiful followed the prophet Leroy Johnson, When Leroy Johnson died they followed Rulon Jeffs. 29. In the 1960s Harold Blackmore of Bountiful moved with his family t0 Short Creek to help with the building and renovation of the community. Harold was asked by Marion Hammon fo come to Short Creek for this purpose and also to diffuse a growing leadership battle in Bountiful. Harold and others worked to complete a high school for the community that was named the “Colorado City Academy 30.There was lots of movement between the US and Canadian communities. Lots of boys would come down from Canada to do their missionary work. There were lots of marriages between the people of Short Creek and Bountiful. One example is my sister Nurylon, who married Arthur Blackmore (son of Harold Blackmore),-10- 31.1 left Colorado City in 2003 I currently live in the community of Cane Beds which is n Arizona and nearby Colorado City. I am legally blind. Leah Greathead read this affidavit to me before I swore it, SWORN BEFORE ME at the Community of Cane Beds, Mohave County , in the State of Arizona this 14" day of July, 2010 ‘Comrhissioner for taking Affidavits For British Columbia ‘Keren Horsman Barrister and Solicitor Ministry of Attorney General 1301 - 865 Homby Street ‘Vancouver, B.C. V6Z 263 (604) 660-3083 “Bi Gas BEN BISTLINEThis is Exnib_“”A A Commistioner for taking Afidavits Brtish Columbia Benjamin G. Bistline