Montreal police have issued arrest warrants for two elderly priests accused of sexual assaults dating back to the 1960s.

Olivain Leblanc, 70, and Georges Sarrazin, 91, both brothers of the Congregation of Holy Cross, could face charges including gross indecency, indecent behaviour and sodomy.

It is alleged they sexually assaulted students at the College Notre-Dame in Montreal between 1966 and 1980. Police said four people have filed complaints against the two men.

Police said they have proceeded slowly in the arrests because the men have "significant health problems" but expect to apprehend and charge them in the new year.

It's just the latest scandal for the Congregation of Holy Cross, which was the subject of a 2009 class-action lawsuit brought by former students of College Notre-Dame and two other schools, who claimed they were sexually abused by priests or lay people working at the schools - some as far back as 1950. In 2011, the order agreed to an $18-million settlement to be paid to the victims. No criminal charges were laid.