Canada

The participation of Winston Blackmore, Canada's most notorious polygamist, would be welcome in the reference case on the anti-polygamy law's constitutionality, but the chief justice of the B.C. Supreme Court said Tuesday that it's not necessary. In a written decision, Robert Bauman said that not only is Winston Blackmore's participation and that of his 500 or so followers from the community of Bountiful, B.C. not necessary, there is no reason for taxpayers to pay their legal costs of participating in the reference case.

The words stung me like a jolt of electricity: "Muhammad was a child rapist." As if the slur were not sufficient, the speaker then insinuated my Islamic faith was filth. "I am 'clean' of Islam," she sneered to her Toronto audience. As far as hate speech goes, the shoe was suddenly on the other foot. By Tarek Fatah.

Winston Blackmore, the leader of a polygamous community in southeastern British Columbia who has admitted to having multiple wives, is suing the provincial government for violating his rights when he was charged last year.

There is a paradox in Canadians' prized tolerance -- taken to its extreme, we inevitably will be asked to countenance the intolerable. Where that line is between tolerance and the intolerable is something that the courts are dealing with on several fronts. Polygamy is the most recent. Last week, B.C. Attorney-General Mike de Jong asked the Supreme Court of British Columbia to determine whether banning polygamy is a justifiable limit on the constitutional guarantee of religious freedom.