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 87)

Thank you, Madam Chair. And I can't give a definitive date. We are approaching this project in a very unique way, and we're working with the community and we are on the community's timeline in many ways. We understand that there needs to be a new school just as they understand there needs to be a school. No one's trying to hold things up. But it's an unpredictable process because we've never been down this path before. So everyone is committed to ensuring we get the work done and get it done in a timely manner, but I don't have a date for the Member. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 87)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Member mentioned, this is not new ground. Over the years, there's been a number of  much work done on the types of programs and research into the needs of young children and how we can better support them and how we can better support parents with their child care needs. And so this work has been done by the Department of Health, by E, C and E, and the officials at the department have looked at all of this work spanning many years, and as well, they have gone out to have discussions with child care providers, Indigenous governments, and so on. And all of that is...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 87)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So ECE currently has funding for startup, new child care space startup to help programs get off the ground. Of course, we have the $1 million child care infrastructure fund that we're a few years into now. As well, we have been prioritizing the communities who have no child care services for that fund. While negotiating the terms of the new agreement, the Canadawide agreement that we hope to sign here in the very near future, we've been considering how we can utilize that agreement as well as some of the existing funding that we already have to construct new spaces. I...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 87)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this government has committed to transforming our education system with the goal of improving the lives of all our residents. The Department of Education, Culture and Employment has some exciting initiatives being undertaken in collaboration with education partners, industry, Indigenous governments, and the federal government.

Mr. Speaker, it can be argued that the greatest returns on investment come from investing in early childhood education. That is one of the reasons that this Legislative Assembly has made it a priority to advance universal child care by...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 87)

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the Honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, that Bill 36, an Act to Amend to the Territorial Court Act be read for the third time, and Mr. Speaker, I request a recorded vote. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 87)

Thank you, Madam Chair. So we have had an existing deal with the Government of Canada for a number of years. They have been providing us funding for early learning and child care in and around the tune of $2.5 million a year. We have re-signed that deal recently. And so that is this funding here. And this will be in addition to any funding we receive through the Canada-wide Early Learning Child Care Agreement. And so instead of being rolled up into one single agreement, we have a couple of agreements going at the same time. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 86)

Yes, I do. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 86)

Thank you, and the issues we have are that we do need the facility, and we need it available at all times. And so it's not it's not a reliable venue to do other things because you never know when you're going to need it and when you're not. And the fixed costs associated with it are there regardless. So it's not something that really can be used in other ways.

And as to the question about, you know, keeping youth out of the facility and helping them down, you know, perhaps a better path, like, that's that's what Health does; that's what ECE does; that's what Housing does that's what we...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 86)

Thank you, Madam Chair. So I just did a quick sort of calculation here on Google Maps of what I think the new path right look like, and it looks like it's probably under or somewhere around 200 meters. So we're looking at a couple thousand dollars a meter. I find it difficult, I guess, to support something like this just given that we have a lot of competing needs in the territory, and this is a very short trail to the Legislative Assembly. And I walk that street often. I've been here six years. I've walked it in winter, I've walked it in the summer, and I know that I'm walking on a road and...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 86)

Thank you, Madam Chair. There isn't a plan to retire any of the buildings. You know, I do look at these low numbers, and I look that we have some facilities where prisoners could be housed in either one, and perhaps there's opportunities to repurpose some of those facilities. We already have a budget associated with them. We have facilities themselves. But there is nothing in the works. But this is a relatively new phenomenon, these low numbers. I mean, when I took over the portfolio, they weren't this low. And when we got here, they weren't nearly this low. So this huge decline is very, very...