Plint parole delayed

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Former Alberni Indian Residential School dormitory supervisor and convicted pedophile Arthur Henry Plint will remain behind bars at Mountain Institute in Agassiz for another few months.

Having served the necessary two-thirds of his 11-year sentence for sexually and physically assaulting students under his care, Plint has been eligible for day parole since January, and will become eligible for full parole in July of this year.

Plint's initial parole hearing was scheduled for March 18, but he has asked that his hearing be postponed until June.

"It's fairly common for inmates to postpone their parole hearing," said British Columbia Parole Board spokesperson, Deborah Kahara. "There are many possible reasons he may have had for postponing, but I don't know what his actual reasons are at this time."

According to Kahara, prisoners do not have to give their reasons for postponing a parole hearing, so no reasons are recorded on any document.

Plaintiffs involved in legal action against the United Church of Canada and the federal government for their complicity at the school, continue to lobby the Crown to accept further physical and sexual assault charges against the 83-year-old Plint.

The crown continues to respond that it will not prosecute Plint unless new charges, unrelated to physical or sexual assault charges, are filed.

The current trial charging the United Church of Canada and the federal government with direct liability at Alberni Indian Residential School continues in Vancouver Supreme court for three or four weeks of final arguments, beginning on April 19. Lawyer Allan Early predicts final arguments from the plaintiffs' lawyers will be heard during the first week of May.