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 167)

Thank you, Madam Chair. So I'm I have some questions about this. So this is stating that each Regular Member shall sit on a minimum of two committees in addition to the Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight. So it says every Regular Member shall sit on the Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight. And so if a Member is not sitting on the Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight, they're in violation of the rules I suppose. So I wonder what would be the redress if they were in violation of those rules? I know we don't have witnesses here but this is just...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 167)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There is a lot of engagement to come. So after we get the report back from the phase 2 environmental assessment, that'll determine the next steps. And before there's any shovels in the ground, there will be a significant amount of engagement, hopefully partnerships with Indigenous governments, hopefully economic opportunities that will be realized. So with only, you know, a couple weeks left here, I can't make any commitments to go out and, you know, do more engagement on this. But all of that work will happen. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 167)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A number of sites were looked at. There's a number of different options for postsecondary campuses. Some campuses are all located in one area. Some are located in downtowns with buildings located on different blocks of the city. And so the model that was chosen for the for Aurora College North Slave Campus was a model where we wanted to be close to downtown, close to transit, close to places that people can live, but all in one place so that students can live near the school and somewhere near, you know, outdoor areas as well, so that people maybe coming from the...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 167)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This government did exempt a significant amount of the federal supports that were provided to residents by the Government of Canada. We made clear that certain income from the government would be deducted. And so there should be no reason now why income support is clawing anything back because those residents would have claimed that they were receiving that income at that time. I'll also note that although it is delayed, the rollout of the new income assistance program, this government has increased income has approved increases to income assistance that we haven't...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 167)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm not quite clear what the Member is referencing, what he means by disability payments. I'm going to need a bit more detail on this. I know that the folks who administer income assistance, they are as compassionate as they can be. We do have regulations. And so they must the program is regulated and so they must follow those regulations. It is the law. And so while they are compassionate as they can be, there are some parameters that they have to follow. So I'm happy to look into this further. And if the Member can provide a bit more concrete information about what...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 166)

Thank you, Madam Chair. This is a standard nonderogation clause. You can find it in other pieces of legislation. I think that this is a good idea. I'm happy to support this. And going forward, we should always consider including these in bills. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 166)

Thank you, Madam Chair. So there's settlement lands. There's other types of lands that might be owned by an Indigenous government. And the Member's probably I know the Member's more of an expert on land than I am. I know that's his background. He came here in 1985 to work on those types of issues, so. And I can perhaps hand it to Mr. Yap for some further explanation of how the land if the Member would like. I know we're on his clock here. So, yes, I see him shrugging. So to Mr. Yap. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 166)

Thank you. So I will hand it to Mr. Yap for a more detailed explanation. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 166)

Thank you. Indigenous governments are bound would be bound by this act as well. And I will say that if municipalities and Indigenous governments were in the same position as the GNWT, they would then have to comply with other they'd have to abide by the surety bond section of the act, which would mean that they would have to have contracts that are bondable, which would have an impact on could have an impact on their ability to get people to do work in certain regions of the territory as well. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 166)

Thank you. And there's been comments about protecting, you know, other protecting governments. The legislation's not about protecting governments, it's about ensuring that workers get paid. And the GNWT is not an entity that we're worried about being insolvent. There's not a concern that the GNWT won't pay their bills. There's you know, we hear concerns from the Members about when the bills get paid, but the issue isn't that they won't get paid. Thank you.