Just a quick note on the Canadian polygamy story. So far as I can

tell at this point, the initial reports were accurate. A study

sponsored in part by the Canadian Department of Justice did indeed

recommend the repeal of Canada’s anti-polygamy statues. There were

actually a total of four sponsored studies. In addition to the most

controversial study (the one that called for the decriminalization of

polygamy) a second study called on Parliament to “revisit the current

criminalization of bigamy and polygamy.” So while this second study

does not directly call for decriminalization, it certainly implies

that decriminalization may be wise. The other two studies oppose the

decriminalization of polygamy. So we have no consensus here among

these four government-sponsored legal studies. Instead we have a

serious debate about decriminalization. And there’s much more to it

than that. The four reports are dense legal-social arguments that

come to grips with a wide range of scholarly and legal studies of

polygamy. I will have more to say about these reports in

time. There are problems in these reports, and important issues and

arguments that are not represented or dealt with. But the Canadian

polygamy debate is clearly on, with partisans on both sides. And

this is only the beginning.