However, section 92(12) of the Constitution Act, 1867 gives the provincial legislatures the power to pass laws regulating the solemnization of marriage.
The federal Marriage (Prohibited Degrees) Act, Section 2[3] prevents the following persons from getting married: Both parties must freely consent.
Section 293.2 of the Criminal Code also addresses marriages of individuals under the age of 16, reading: Everyone who celebrates, aids or participates in a marriage rite or ceremony knowing that one of the persons being married is under the age of 16 years is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years.
In March 2014, Winston Blackmore and James Oler were charged with polygamy;[42] their prosecutions were the first such cases in Canada in over sixty-five years.
[43] In 2007, an independent prosecutor in British Columbia recommended that Canadian courts be asked to rule on the constitutionality of laws against polygamy.
[45][46] On March 9, 2018, the Supreme Court of British Columbia reaffirmed the constitutionality of Canada's anti-polygamy laws,[47] upholding the July 2017 polygamy convictions of Winston Blackmore and James Oler.