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 130)

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I can't commit to that. I know there are organizations who do look at the living wage in different communities, and we're going to let them continue to do that good work. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 130)

Thank you. And since we've made the changes to the Aurora College Act, I can't speak for the college, but we are working closely together so I can say that the college is open to working with community partners. There is a Makerspace up in Inuvik, and that is part of the college already. And so if there are other opportunities to work with third parties and their synergies, if there's space required and the college has that space, I know that they would be happy to make those connections when it makes sense. We all need to work together and pool our resources. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 130)

Thank you, Madam Speaker. And one of the goals that we set out with this transformation was to ensure that the college had a presence in every single community in the Northwest Territories. And that's not the case right now. What that presence looks like, that is what is being worked out. In a perfect world, there would be a physical space with appropriate internet connections and whatnot in every community, but this is a massive project and we're looking at improvements to the three campuses as well as a number of community learning centres. So it's not likely that every community will have a...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 130)

Madam Speaker, I wish to present to the House Bill 63, An Act to Amend the Official Languages Act, to be read for the first time. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 130)

Thank you, Madam Speaker. So I think I've laid that vision out. If Indigenous governments were left out of the modernization of the Education Act, it would be a disaster. So that's why we are making these targeted operational technical amendments in the life of this Assembly, and then we'll deal with the other 99.999 percent of the Education Act in the next Assembly. And the work to begin developing an MOU between the GNWT and Indigenous governments is going to happen in the life of this Assembly. So we should have a signed MOU that will ensure that this work does happen. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 129)

Thank you, Madam Speaker. So one of the major things that has happened in the past or just over a year I guess a year and two days ago was the new Corrections Act came into force, and that act restructures our correctional system with more of a focus on rehabilitation as opposed to punishment. We are still, you know, in the process of implementing that Act. It has only been a year, and much of that was COVID times so we haven't quite gotten to the point where I think we want to. But there's a recognition that doing the same old thing doesn't work, and so we are trying to move in a direction...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 129)

Thank you, Madam Speaker. So obviously the staff are the people who are in direct contact with inmates in correctional facilities and staff are they receive training in applied suicide intervention skills, so the assist training that's been discussed in this House before. They also receive mental health first aid training, and this year they've moved to the mental health first aid northern peoples edition training. The intake process at corrections includes screening for suicide and mental health issues. There are psychologists, counsellors, and traditional counsellors in the correctional...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 129)

Madam Speaker, I give notice that on Wednesday, November 2nd, 2022, I will present Bill 68, An Act to Amend the Child Daycare Act, be read for the first time. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 129)

Thank you, Madam Speaker. As this motion contains recommendations to the government, we will be abstaining. We don't make recommendations to ourselves and we don't want to stand in the way of this motion either. So we look forward to providing a full response within 120 days. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 129)

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I think that's a great suggestion, and I'm happy to have that conversation with the youth advisory committee. Thank you.