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 86)

Thank you, Madam Chair. On your left, Madam Chair, we have Karin Taylor, acting assistant deputy minister, attorney general; and Christina Duffy, director, legislation division. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Madam Chair. We have Ms. Charlene Dolittle, deputy minister, and Mr. James Bancroft, director of corporate services.

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

Thank you, Madam Chair. I am here to present Bill 36, an Act to Amend the Territorial Court Act.

Bill 36 proposes an amendment to the Territorial Court Act that would allow for more discretion in the appointment of a judge to the Judicial Appointments Advisory Committee. The function of the advisory committee is to make recommendations to the Commissioner and Executive Council respecting the appointment of territorial judges. The Territorial Court Act currently requires that the committee be comprised of the chief judge of the territorial court and the next most senior territorial judge, two...

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

Thank you. And I did consider that I don't see a lot of traffic there maybe because of the hours that I do walk that path. Yeah. I have no further questions but I do want to state that I do have serious reservations about this item. Thank you, Madam Chair.

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

Thank you, Madam Chair. I mean, that's a bit of mixing of my portfolios but no, we haven't looked into something like that. And the thing about corrections, it is very rigid. There are a lot of rules around how inmates are dealt with and, you know, I think the Member noted that he used to go there to visit his friends and I think if you're from the North and you go to a correctional facility, you're going to see someone you know, if not someone that you grew up with. And so it's not like these are full of people who are, you know, extremely dangerous. A lot of people have made bad choices. A...

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

Thank you. The other route that was mentioned by the other Member from Hay River was from I guess the existing trail towards the Prince of Wales Heritage Centre. There is no walkway there either. Why was this route chosen over that route? And the reason I ask is because the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre is a public building and, you know, generally, in normal times, we're also also open to the public here at the Assembly. But I imagine they get more visitors, more foot traffic than we get here. And I know that the Assembly is responsible for the it's capitol area, I believe. And I...

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

Thank you, Madam Chair. I will have to pass this one off, but I'll say that the current numbers are reflective to, I think, a great extent of the COVID19 situation and the fact that, you know, both corrections, and the courts especially, made the conscious effort to try and reduce the number of inmates. Whether or not those numbers go back up is yet to be seen, but I think that we have seen the numbers stay low and we haven't seen any sort of repercussions in the communities. So I think it's promising and, hopefully, we can keep these numbers down and people don't see a need to keep people...

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

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following three documents: Aurora College Corporate Plan 2021/2022; Revised Aurora College Capital Budget 2021/2022; and, 2020-2021 Annual Report on Official Languages. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you. We don't have correctional facilities but we do have probation officers in those communities who travel. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I would not say that they have no future. I think there is a future for everyone. There's Members in this Assembly who dropped out of high school and went back and, you know, accomplished quite a bit with their lives. So I would never say that the student has no future.

Right now, this Assembly has prioritized education to the greatest degree, I think we've seen, in quite a while. So there's a lot of efforts to going into assisting students right from before they enter school in their early childhood through the JK to 12 system and then once they're out. Even if they...