Député de Hay River Nord

Premier ministre
Ministre de l’Exécutif et des Affaires autochtones

R.J. Simpson a été élu à la 20e Assemblée, représentant la circonscription de Hay River Nord. Le 7 décembre 2023, M. Simpson a été élu premier ministre de la 20e Assemblée législative des Territoires du Nord-Ouest.

M. Simpson a été élu par acclamation à la 19e Assemblée législative et élu pour la première fois à la 18e Assemblée en 2015.

M. Simpson a été élu pour la première fois à la 18e Assemblée législative en 2015. M. Simpson a été président adjoint de la 18e Assemblée législative, vice-président du Comité permanent des opérations gouvernementales et président du Comité spécial sur les questions de transition. M. Simpson a également siégé au Comité permanent des priorités et de la planification, de même qu’au Comité permanent du développement économique et de l’environnement.

M. Simpson a habité à Hay River toute sa vie. Après avoir obtenu son diplôme d’études secondaires à l’école secondaire Diamond Jenness en 1998, il a décroché un baccalauréat ès arts à l’Université MacEwan et un diplôme en droit à la faculté de droit de l’Université de l’Alberta.

M. Simpson a précédemment travaillé pour le gouvernement du Canada, la Northern Transportation Company limitée, la section locale no 51 des Métis, et Maskwa Engineering.

Pendant ses études en droit, M. Simpson a été président de l’association des étudiants en droit autochtones. Il a également siégé au conseil d’administration du Centre d’amitié Soaring Eagle, à Hay River, et donne de son temps au projet d’éducation Canada-Ghana.

Committees

R.J. Simpson
Hay River Nord
Bureau

Yellowknife NT X1A 2L9
Canada

P.O. Boîte
1320
Bureau de circonscription

62, promenade Woodland, bureau 104
Hay River Nord NT X0E 1G1
Canada

Ministre
Premier ministre des Territoires du Nord-Ouest, Ministère de l’Exécutif et des Affaires autochtones, Ministre de la Justice

Déclarations dans les débats

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 113)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I want to commend the Member for the strong antislavery stance he took in his Member's statement.

The GNWT isn't the one who puts forward name changes for a geographical place. We have a geographical name policy, and it states that those changes come from the community. So we actually have received a request from the community to change the name of the Great Slave Lake.

We work with the Geographic Names Board of Canada on that, and there is a process. It involves community consultation, consultation with Indigenous governments, and we are undertaking that now. So the...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 113)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Without a heads up, no, I can't detail the type of deescalation training that RCMP officers receive but the Commissioner of the RCMP did receive a new mandate letter today from the Minister of Public Safety and in there, there was comments about reviewing that type of deescalation training, to make sure that it is actually appropriate and doing what it is supposed to be doing. But I will provide the Member with a written followup regarding deescalation training. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 113)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So here in the Northwest Territories, the Dene Nation and the RCMP have begun working together. They started a pilot project, close to a year ago now I believe, and it's a one year pilot. But that is an effort for some Indigenous leaders, as well as RCMP members, to come together and work together to address some of these issues that the Member is talking about.

The federal government, the Prime Minister, and the Minister of Public Safety, have tasked the RCMP to accelerate their reform with a focus on the MMIWG Calls for Justice as well as the TRC's Calls to Action. I...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 113)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to speak about our progress in establishing a polytechnic university in the Northwest Territories. The magnitude of this project was never something to be taken lightly, and we remain committed to completing work in the right order and at the right time.

The transformation follows a threephased approach that ensures Aurora College can build a strong foundation so that it transforms into a sustainable polytechnic university that delivers high quality education to Northerners.

We are already seeing gains as we establish the building...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 113)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And if the Member doesn't like the "Mackenzie River," he can use any of the other six official names. The Mackenzie River, in 2015, wasn't renamed per se but there were names added to it. So a single geographical feature can have multiple names, and they are all official, each one as official as the next. And so the Mackenzie River does have a number of official names. Can be used in official documents. So that work has already happened. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 113)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We can do what we want with government owned infrastructure when it comes to naming. We don't have to ask anyone's permission. We pay the bills, we can name buildings what we want to name them.

Any change in name would be tied to some sort of a retrofit of the building, some other changes. There are plans to look at how we can perhaps fund the museum differently. We're working on a revenue study. We expect some renovations, which are required for the building and so any changes would be part and parcel of that. But I foresee that in the not too distant future we'll...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 113)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I know in Nunavut they started wearing body cameras maybe a year ago, a couple years ago, and they have been testing them out in cold weather to see how they work. It's my understanding that at some point, body cameras will likely roll out for RCMP across the country. And so at that point, you know, then it wouldn't be mandatory.

There are a number of things we have to work out the technical issues, the storage, as in the data storage, and so there's some things that need to be put in place, very expensive things, before we can start doing that. But I expect that at...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 113)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So the RCMP are encouraged to complete the Living Well Together training. They are also required to take training called so there's a number of different training opportunities, or rather requirements. One is a Trauma Informed Approach. Another is Cultural Awareness and Humility. Another is United Against Racism. And another is Bias Awareness. And I will say that over the last number of years, the amount of training, particularly related to this subject, has increased. And it's increased to the point where we've added new RCMP officers in the territory because we have...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 111)

In favour.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 111)

In favour.