Member Frame Lake

Mr. Morse was elected to the 20th Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly to represent the constituency of Frame Lake.

Mr. Morse grew up in Yellowknife and graduated from Sir John Franklin High School. He studied political science and economics in undergrad, has a diploma in environment and natural resources technology from Aurora College, and a master’s degree in conflict analysis & management from Royal Roads University.

Mr. Morse has a diverse professional background, including ten years’ experience working in the NWT’s regulatory system. He has worked as an environmental technician, policy analyst, executive director of an NGO, and constituency assistant at the Legislative Assembly. He has also worked a variety of trades and labour positions over the years, including a season working on the Snowking’s snow castle construction team. He is licensed to operate commercial watercraft, and works as a zodiac driver and polar bear guard for an expedition cruise company in the summer.

His dedication to public service extended to a two-term tenure as a city councillor in Yellowknife, where he worked from 2015 to 2022. He served on the board of directors for the Yellowknife Housing Authority from 2021 to 2023.

In his spare time Julian enjoys various outdoor activities, and has extensively explored Great Slave Lake in his sailboat. He is an avid hunter, and has participated in expeditions for moose, caribou, and muskox across the varied landscapes of the Northwest Territories.

Prior to his political career, he contributed to the Boards of Folk on the Rocks and the Somba K'e Paddling Club. In his personal life, Julian shares his home with his girlfriend Rhiana and their pets – Beatrix, the dog, and Loki, the cat.

Frame Lake Electoral District:

Committees

Julian Morse
Frame Lake
Member's Office

Yellowknife NT X1A 2L9
Canada

P.O. Box
1320

Statements in Debates

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 42)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate it. I certainly was going to ask questions very similar to the Member for Great Slave on GRI. Maybe if I can try and build upon that.

I mean, I think that the concern that I have about -- well, first of all, I mean, I think GRI is a great initiative. I very much support it. And my real concern with it is simply that we're not reviewing programs quickly enough, that it's been taken -- you know, it's kind of extended into multiple terms of the Assembly. And I think, you know, I've spoken to the fact in my reply to the budget address that our inability to say...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 42)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am encouraged to hear about that information from the Minister. Some of those things are things that I wasn't aware of.

Mr. Speaker, is the Minister concerned, considering the news that came out about the Inuit Nunangat University recently, that the NWT is falling behind our neighbours, that is a competitive environment that the NWT wants to stay on top of; is the Minister concerned about the progress that we are not yet making on moving this project forward? Thank you.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 42)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, your committee would like to report on its consideration of Bill 12, the Business Day Statute Law Amendment Act.

Bill 12 received second reading in the Legislative Assembly on October 30th, 2024 and was referred to the Standing Committee on Government Operations for review. The standing committee completed its clause-by-clause review of the bill with the Minister of Justice on February 10th, 2025.

Mr. Speaker, the committee reports that Bill 12, the Business Day Statute Law Amendment Act, is ready for consideration in Committee of the Whole. Thank you, Mr...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 42)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. My understanding of anything related to Canol is those would have been federal contaminated sites. I'm just curious how the GNWT ended up with them.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 42)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I guess, yeah, is the Minister able to provide us any detail, though, on like what exactly -- you know, it seems like the department has some information. They were able to give us kind of a high level idea Cameron Hills was $21.2 million, but can we know kind of what project are we talking about? How did the government end up with this liability? I'm just seeking to understand a bit better, you know, something that just appears as a line item in a budget and, you know, once the narrative starts to emerge, one wants to know more about it. Thank you.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 42)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. That is certainly good news, and it's something that I've been advocating for, mostly by email of course, outside of session, and so it is really nice to -- it is nice to hear that. I have some constituents that will be very pleased to hear about that so appreciate that information from the Minister and encourage the department to keep working with the department of health on coordination and certainly hope that those extra staff help to alleviate the burden a bit.

To turn back to the line of questioning that the Member for Great Slave brought up, that Cameron Hills...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 41)

Okay, thank you. That's a little bit tough to hear that we're trying to save money and ended up spending more. But -- okay.

The next one I was wondering about is just the funding for the two winter roads. How are we managing to under budget for these? I mean, these are roads that we've been running for decades. We should have a good idea of the operating costs of them. Even knowing that there might be, you know, changes in -- from season to season as to different demands but I would expect that, you know, these costs are pretty significant. So is there a reason why they went up so much this...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 41)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, is the department planning to run this process through the operational dialogue, or are they going to be running the process themselves? It's becoming a bit unclear to me how this is going to play out, what the expected timeline is. I just want to remind the House and the Minister that the idea of doing targeted amendments was to get it done quickly if possible. Just looking for some more clarity on how this process is going to play out and hoping to get some kind of indication from the Minister that we might be able to see the changes come forward...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 41)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister of Environment and Climate Change. Mr. Speaker, in the previous sitting of the Assembly in October, I asked the Minister about the ongoing issue of targeted amendments to the waters regulations. The Minister committed to come back to the House with a timeline for Members. I'm just wondering, Mr. Speaker, if the Minister has an update for the House today on that process. Thank you.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 41)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And I appreciate that information and that reassurance. The reason I bring the point up is just that, you know, overall looking at this, it is difficult seeing sups of this level come forward year after year and just knowing that we're hitting our debt limit. I mean, I heard one Member kind of suggest they were going to maybe make a protest vote related to this. I mean, I'm not suggesting I'm going to do the same but it -- I do want to kind of register a concern about some of the trends that I'm seeing. And, I mean, I'm guessing that all the sups that came forward met the...