Member Hay River North

Premier
Minister of Executive and Indigenous Affairs

R.J. Simpson was elected to the 20th Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly, representing the constituency of Hay River North. On December 7th, 2023, Mr. Simpson was elected Premier of the Northwest Territories.

Mr. Simpson was formerly acclaimed to the 19th Legislative Assembly and first elected into the 18th Assembly in 2015.

Mr. Simpson was Deputy Speaker of the 18th Assembly, Deputy Chair of the Standing Committee on Government Operations, and the Chair of the Special Committee on Transition Matters. Mr. Simpson was also a member of the Standing Committee on Priorities and Planning and the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Environment.

Mr. Simpson is a lifelong resident of Hay River After graduating from Diamond Jenness Secondary School in 1998 Mr. Simpson went on to obtain a Bachelor of Arts from MacEwan University and a law degree from the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Law.

Mr. Simpson has previously worked with the Government of Canada, Northern Transportation Company Ltd, Métis Nation Local 51, and Maskwa Engineering.

While at law school, Mr. Simpson was the President of the Aboriginal Law Students’ Association. He has also served on the board of the Soaring Eagle Friendship Centre in Hay River and volunteered with the Canada-Ghana Education Project.

Hay River North Electoral District

Committees

R.J. Simpson
Hay River North
Member's Office

Yellowknife NT X1A 2L9
Canada

P.O. Box
1320
Constituency Office

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

Minister
Premier of the Northwest Territories, Minister of Executive and Indigenous Affairs, Minister of Justice, Government House Leader

Statements in Debates

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 141)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Education Act lays out the various responsibilities of the department as well as education, the DECs and DEAs. And so it would be the DEAs who are responsible for developing their own bussing policies however there's always supports available from the regional body or from ECE if it is needed. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 141)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So earlier in her statement the Member mentioned that back in I believe it was 2002 it was thought that there would need to be a replacement sometime around 2015 or 2020, something like that. And clearly we haven't needed that yet. So it's hard for me to put numbers out there, dates out there, when obviously things can change. Right now, based on the information we have, we're looking at 2035. But that could come a lot sooner; it could take longer. You know, Fort Smith has Aurora College with a trades school, and I think that expertise in trades really has helped those...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 141)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The last technical status evaluation was 2005. These evaluations are typically done when work is planned to be done on a building. However, there was a building condition assessment completed on JBT by the Department of Infrastructure in August of 2022. These assessments are not as in depth as the technical status evaluation, but they do provide an overall assessment of the building. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 141)

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document: Followup Letter for Oral Question 134119(2): Civil Forfeiture. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 141)

Sorry, Mr. Speaker. I might have missed the question, but we have $1 million in the fund, and based on the programs that apply that's how we make a determination. So sometimes there may only be a few programs that actually qualify based on the proposal. And so those programs, as we've seen in the past, can get some significant amounts of funding. And I apologize if I missed the Member's statement. I will say that we have also overspent. I believe we spent $1.28 million last year on this because there was a number of good proposals, and there was a demonstrated need that we wanted to support...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 141)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No one would like to see this fund increased more than myself. I could take a win right now but I don't have a million dollars in my back pocket. The budget is, you know, it's before committee right now. And so the Member is aware what the budget for this upcoming year is, and it will be $1 million. In the future, I'm sure the budget will increase but it is not in the immediate future. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 141)

Thank you. So utility payments are paid to utility providers upon receipt of an invoice. So I don't think there would be advanced payments made without that invoice. But if someone needs income assistance, they can go apply for income assistance and then they receive it pretty quickly. There's not generally a big period where people are waiting. So I'm not sure what the Member is referring to in advance of what; receiving support in advance of what? Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 141)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish I could say that I would ensure that DEAs have all the appropriate policies in place but my authority doesn't allow me to dictate to DEAs which policies they should have in place. We're happy to work with DEAs and encourage them to develop policies. If a DEA doesn't have a bussing policy, we can look at other bussing policies and provide those as templates, we can outline which policies DEAs should have, but ultimately it is up to the DEA. I know that in Hay River the DEA is working on improving their bus policy so at least in the Member's constituency that work...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 141)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A bussing policy can touch on many of those things. It doesn't necessarily have to have all of those things. There are different ways that education bodies go about providing bussing. So sometimes there is a contractor, sometimes the bus is owned by the education body, so it really depends on the situation. But I'm sure there's best practices that we would like all the DEAs to follow. And, again, the department's always happy to provide any sort of assistance when DEAs want to develop these policies. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 140)

Thank you, Madam Speaker. We have a couple of pages from Hay River North here today with us, and so I want to welcome them Madeline Fabien and Francis Cook. And I have a feeling we'll be seeing them back in this Assembly in our seats one day. Thank you.