BOUNTIFUL, B.C. - A teenaged relative of Winston Blackmore says RCMP came to the United States to interview her about her uncle and what it was like to grow up in the polygamous community of Bountiful, B.C.
Cindy Blackmore said Thursday that two Mounties flew to her home in Las Vegas late last year to talk to her as part of their investigation in the practice of polygamy and allegations of sexual abuse in the community in southeastern B.C.
The seventeen-year-old, who was raised with two mothers in a polygamous family but left home at 14, says she is not a polygamist but is not against it and she questions the decision of the B.C. Crown to charge her uncle.
Blackmore, 52, and James Oler, 44, each face one charge of practising a form of polygamy. The men are the leaders of two rival factions of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Bountiful, located near Creston.
Bountiful has been the subject of investigations involving allegations of polygamy, sexual abuse and trafficking of teenage brides across the Canada-U.S. border to sister communities in the U.S.
"All I can say is I'll be surprised if he (Blackmore) actually gets prison time," said Cindy Blackmore, in a telephone interview from her parents' home in Bountiful, where she returned for the holidays.
She echoed her uncle, who said Thursday that tens of thousands of people from different cultural backgrounds practice polygamy quietly across the country.
"It's kind of interesting because there's a lot of people who practise polygamy. What are they going to do, arrest them all?" Cindy Blackmore said in a telephone interview.
There are about 1,000 members of the sect in Bountiful, a neighbourhood in the small border town of Creston. The community is split between followers of Blackmore and Oler, who represents jailed U.S. polygamist leader Warren Jeffs.
Cindy Blackmore said Jeffs is her cousin, and one of her older brothers is a high-ranking Jeffs follower in the United States. Jeffs is currently behind bars, serving a sentence for being an accomplice to rape for his role in the marriage of a teenaged girl in Utah.
Blackmore said most people in Bountiful were told to keep quiet about the arrests of her uncle and Oler but she says she's always done what she's wanted, including leaving her family and religious practices in Bountiful.
"My auntie, she's like, pick up the phone and say, `no comment,"' she said. "But I'm like, whatever, I'll just talk. I have nothing to hide. I don't really care."
Blackmore said she grew up in a polygamous household in Bountiful. She said she has two mothers and 10 brothers and sisters.
At 14, she said she decided to leave Bountiful to live in Cranbrook, located about 90 minutes drive northeast. She then left Cranbrook for Mesquite, Nevada, before moving to Las Vegas where she is attending college and studying social work.
Blackmore said she rejects the polygamous lifestyle for herself, but does not oppose it for others.
"My family is very, very good," she said. "My parents, they accept me and they respect my choices. At first it wasn't like that but now they're, they're very awesome. I live with my boyfriend and we've been together for almost three years."
Blackmore said her boyfriend is from Colorado City, Arizona, where there is another polygamous community but she said her boyfriend is no longer a member of the church.
She said she has dual Canadian and American citizenship because her father is Canadian and mother is American.
And she said her decision to leave her family in Bountiful and the polygamous lifestyle was difficult for her parents to accept, but the relationship has repaired to the point where she returned to her childhood home for the holidays.
"They don't really tell me what to do anymore," Blackmore said. "They just let me do what I want."
She said the RCMP officers interviewed her in Las Vegas prior to the Christmas holidays.
"They were just asking me how I lived," Blackmore said. "How I grew up and what I knew about Winston and what not."
She said the RCMP also asked her about allegations of sexual abuse in the community.
"I haven't encountered any sexual abuse of any in my family," Blackmore said.
She said her uncle Winston does not wield power in Bountiful the same way as Oler, who is directly tied to Jeffs and his followers.
"People don't really follow Winston anymore. It's not like he's this big prophet dude."
