R.J. Simpson

Member Hay River North

Premier
Minister of Executive and Indigenous Affairs
Minister of Justice
Government House Leader

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

Hay River North
Member's Office

Yellowknife NT X1A 2L9
Canada

P.O. Box
1320
Email
Email
Phone
867-767-9141
Extension
11120
Constituency Office

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

Phone
867-874-6301
Minister
Email
Email
Premier of the Northwest Territories, Minister of Executive and Indigenous Affairs, Minister of Justice, Government House Leader

Statements in Debates

Committee Motion 193-19(2): Tabled Document 561-19(2): Main Estimates 2022-2023 – Infrastructure – Deferral of Department, Carried
Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 99)

Thank you. I'll just send that over to Mr. Shannon. Thanks.

Committee Motion 193-19(2): Tabled Document 561-19(2): Main Estimates 2022-2023 – Infrastructure – Deferral of Department, Carried
Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 99)

Thank you. So the idea was to look at the revenue study and figure out how we are going to support the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre to fulfill the legal our legal obligations to store archives and wrap it all up in one package with a name change. And so that work is all happening.

I will say that, you know, a revenue study is looking at more than just charging admissions. I mean, you could look at number of people through the door and multiply that by two and then you know how much you would make for charging people $2 to get into the heritage centre. So it's more than that. It's...

Committee Motion 193-19(2): Tabled Document 561-19(2): Main Estimates 2022-2023 – Infrastructure – Deferral of Department, Carried
Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 99)

Thank you. Perhaps I'll send it to the deputy minister for that level of detail. Thank you.

Committee Motion 193-19(2): Tabled Document 561-19(2): Main Estimates 2022-2023 – Infrastructure – Deferral of Department, Carried
Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 99)

Thank you. Aurora College makes up that difference. Thank you.

Committee Motion 193-19(2): Tabled Document 561-19(2): Main Estimates 2022-2023 – Infrastructure – Deferral of Department, Carried
Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 99)

Thank you. And no, I'm not talking about the government renewal initiative. As the Member may recall, the art strategy included a number of actions in there. The first action, it's one of the foundational action, was to review the current programs that we have. And again, that work could have been done prior to a strategy being released, and we could have released the strategy with the reviews done, you know, perhaps this year or sometime next year but we decided to do it in that order. And so we have we know what we have. We know what our inventory of arts funding is, our programs are, and...

Committee Motion 193-19(2): Tabled Document 561-19(2): Main Estimates 2022-2023 – Infrastructure – Deferral of Department, Carried
Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 99)

Thank you, Madam Chair. Very serious. I'm very passionate about this, this file, and like I said I think it's there's a lot of good work happening, work that wasn't happening, you know, just five years ago. A lot of strides have been made. For some of the details on the funding, I can ask the deputy minister to provide that. Thank you.

Committee Motion 193-19(2): Tabled Document 561-19(2): Main Estimates 2022-2023 – Infrastructure – Deferral of Department, Carried
Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 99)

Yes, I believe that Fort Providence actually has an application in. We supported a project in Deline. And we do prioritize small communities, understanding that it's generally small communities who really lack the infrastructure. Thank you.

Committee Motion 193-19(2): Tabled Document 561-19(2): Main Estimates 2022-2023 – Infrastructure – Deferral of Department, Carried
Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 99)

Thank you, Madam Chair. To your left, we have Sam Shannon, assistant deputy minister of corporate services; and to your right, John MacDonald, deputy minister. Thank you.

Committee Motion 193-19(2): Tabled Document 561-19(2): Main Estimates 2022-2023 – Infrastructure – Deferral of Department, Carried
Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 99)

Thank you. And so we work with the Indigenous governments. That's who our partners are on this. The mentors receive the starting compensation rate is $25 an hour, and the apprentices receive $20 an hour. Thank you.

Committee Motion 193-19(2): Tabled Document 561-19(2): Main Estimates 2022-2023 – Infrastructure – Deferral of Department, Carried
Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 99)

Thank you. So I believe the arts council just overspent that year by 10,000. Perhaps I can ask Mr. Shannon for some more detail on that. Thank you.