OTTAWA — The federal government ordered urgent research on polygamy last month partly to allay concerns about the potential adverse impact of its same-sex legislation, a newly released document shows.

The wording of the original research proposal runs contrary to suggestions from the justice minister and others that the $150,000 polygamy project had no connection to the same-sex debate.

"The question of polygamy has also arisen lately in connection with the current public debate on civil marriage and the legal recognition of same-sex unions,'' says the three-page document from Status of Women Canada.

"Concerns have been raised by some that in changing one aspect of the legal capacity to marry to allow equal access to civil marriage for same-sex couples, all of the other aspects of legal capacity may also be vulnerable to attack under the Charter, including the ban on the practice of polygamy.''

"The government will likely be called upon to reassure Canadians that it is possible to hold the line on civil marriage, by retaining the requirement for monogamy and other restrictions in minimum age and marriage between close relatives.''

The document -- written by Vesna Radulovic, senior research analyst for the agency -- was obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act.

The research project, with half the funding provided by the Justice Department, was in large part designed to help Ottawa weather any legal challenge in British Columbia to the ban on polygamy.

RCMP are investigating the Creston, B.C., religious community of Bountiful, where polygamy is openly practised. The province's attorney general is considering whether to lay charges.

Polygamy is typically the marriage of a man to several wives, and rarely the reverse.

Some legal experts question whether the polygamy ban might be vulnerable to a challenge under the Constitution, which guarantees religious freedom.

Status of Women Canada publicly posted an urgent call for research proposals on Jan. 10, specifically referring to the Bountiful case. The agency's research director, Zeynep Karman, told the Ottawa Citizen at the time that same-sex legislation was not the motivating factor.

Asked on Jan. 20 about the study project, Justice Minister Irwin Cotler said it was prompted solely by the British Columbia case and that there was "no connection'' to same-sex marriage.

"Any attempt to make that kind of connection is simply a way of confusing distinguishable issues in every regard,'' he said.

Tory Leader Stephen Harper, who opposes same-sex marriage legislation now being debated in the House of Commons, referred to the project in criticizing the governing Liberals. He was pilloried by Liberal politicians and others for making any link to polygamy.

The official call for research proposals posted on the Status of Women website makes no reference to the same-sex debate or other issues, such as pressure from some Muslim communities where polygamy is accepted.

But in justifying the need for research, Radulovic's original proposal said that "although the current focus for the debate is in B.C., the fact that the issue has arisen as well in the context of the Canadian Muslim community, and in the public debate on same-sex marriage shows that the issue has a national relevance.''

A spokesperson for Cotler said the minister had not seen the document, and dismissed it as merely a warning that some Canadians might erroneously link the study to the same-sex debate.

"It's certainly the job of public servants to flag issues, even though they've got nothing to do with what we're looking at here,'' said Denise Rudnicki.

An official with Status of Women Canada said the link to same-sex was made in a draft of the original research proposal, but was later deleted.

"It was in a draft in terms of when we were developing a research proposal, but it was not in the (final) research proposal,'' said Nanci-Jean Waugh.

"We made the decision ... there was not a connection.''

Status of Women Canada received 17 research proposals on polygamy by the Valentine's Day deadline, and will announce three or four winning projects early next month. First drafts are due by June 1, and final versions will be published in December or January.