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It’s almost certainly going to come down to a battle over religious freedom when Canada’s 127-year-old polygamy law is tried for the first time in Canadian history.

Canada’s best-known polygamist, Winston Kaye Blackmore, and his former brother-in-law, James Marion Oler, will face one count each of polygamy when the trial begins Tuesday in B.C. Supreme Court in Cranbrook.

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tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Canada’s polygamy law will be tested in court for the first time in 127 years on an indictment with 24 women Back to video

There are 24 women listed on Blackmore’s indictment who are alleged to have been married in a religious ceremony or had conjugal relations with Blackmore, 61.

By contrast, Oler’s indictment lists “only” four.

Both are former bishops of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and descendants of the six founding fathers of Bountiful, a community of about 1,500 people in southeastern B.C.

Blackmore has never tried to disguise the fact he has multiple wives, who have borne him 146 children.