Yellowknife (Mar 01/04) - A former Inuvik residential school employee has been ordered to stand trial on 13 sex-related offences, dating back more than 40 years.

Speaking through his lawyer, Martin Houston waived his right to a preliminary hearing and will stand trial in the NWT Supreme Court later this year. A trial date hasn't been set.

Houston, who now lives in Winnipeg, didn't attend the brief hearing Tuesday in Yellowknife.

The 67-year-old former supervisor at Grollier Hall in Inuvik is accused of sexually assaulting three boys between Aug. 30, 1960, and June 30, 1962.

He's charged with five counts of buggery (sodomy), three counts of indecent assault, two counts of attempted buggery and two counts of gross indecency.

Today, most of the charges would fall under the umbrella of sexual assault.

Despite the age of the crimes, Crown prosecutor Noel Sinclair, who is handling the case, believes the evidence will hold up at trial.

"The Crown doesn't prosecute historical offences unless we have a reasonable chance of conviction. Which we have in this case," he said.

Two other former supervisors at the Roman Catholic residential school were charged in a series of sex crimes, dating back to the 1960s and 1970s.

Joseph Jean Louis Comeau spent two years in jail for indecent assault and had five more charges pending against him at the time of his death last summer.

Paul Leroux was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 1998 and will stand trial on a number of other charges dating back to his time at Grollier Hall.