More charges against Plint, United Church, Canada

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A second group of former Alberni Indian Residential School students has come forward to launch legal action against Arthur Henry Plint, the United Church of Canada, and the federal government.

Dean Wilson (Haida), Raymond Moore (Nisga'a), William Joseph (Songhees), Mark Reid (Kwagiulth), Peter Knighton (Gitxsan), Daniel Edgar (Ditidaht) and Matthew Touchie (Ucluelet), filed their class-action suit in Vancouver, claiming they were physically and sexually abused by Plint while they were students at the school.

Plint, a dormitory supervisor at AIRS, was sentenced to 11 years in prison, but is now eligible for day parole from Mountain Institution in Agassiz. Having served two-thirds of his sentence, the parole board will be hearing his application for full parole on March 18.

"It's amazing the amount of people involved," said lawyer Allan Early, whose firm Hutchins, Soroka, and Grant will be representing the plaintiffs. "There are other people pursuing litigation with us for similar charges."

In their statement filed in B.C. Supreme Court, the plaintiffs charge Canada with the forced removal of children from their families and communities and with sending them to residential schools where the United Church and Canada seriously breached their duty to care for the children they had placed under their guardianship.

The plaintiffs are seeking unspecified general, special aggravated, exemplary and punitive damages, as well as costs for breach of fiduciary duty and negligence.

Since the papers were filed in the overloaded Vancouver courthouse, the earliest these charges would be heard in court would be in the latter part of the year 2000.