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

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 101)

Thank you. I'll ask the deputy minister to answer.

Committee Motion 194-19(2): Tabled Document 561-19(2): Main Estimates 2022-2023 – Education, Culture and Employment – Deferral of Department, Carried
Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 101)

Thank you. Not every community has a community justice committee but those that do, I believe are operating. Some are operating at a higher capacity than others. I'm not sure if deputy minister has more information. Thank you.

Committee Motion 194-19(2): Tabled Document 561-19(2): Main Estimates 2022-2023 – Education, Culture and Employment – Deferral of Department, Carried
Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 101)

Thank you. So I'm seeing right now there's a reduction to OROGO's budget, and Madam Chair, if we could take a sort recess and we can sort of I can speak with the Minister of Finance and perhaps legal counsel and figure out this situation. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 101)

Thank you. So we might be able to provide some information on where that money was distributed to.

In terms of success, I'm not quite sure what is meant by that. It's a little hard sometimes to measure success because you might have someone who is stuck in a firstyear apprentice because there is no one to, you know, mentor them for their secondyear apprentice. So there are some issues there.

But noting that Tlicho region is not part of the North Slave, I will see if we have a list of where this money has gone, with that breakdown. If it doesn't, we will do our best to provide that at a later...

Committee Motion 194-19(2): Tabled Document 561-19(2): Main Estimates 2022-2023 – Education, Culture and Employment – Deferral of Department, Carried
Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 101)

Thank you. So we have probation services. We have the correctional facilities. And we have corrections administration. So for some description of those, I can ask Mr. Bancroft. Thank you.

Committee Motion 194-19(2): Tabled Document 561-19(2): Main Estimates 2022-2023 – Education, Culture and Employment – Deferral of Department, Carried
Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 101)

Thank you. Mr. Bancroft, please.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 101)

Thank you. They're not separated in the budget but perhaps Mr. Saturnino can provide a bit of a description about what a trade is versus what an occupation is. Thank you.

Committee Motion 194-19(2): Tabled Document 561-19(2): Main Estimates 2022-2023 – Education, Culture and Employment – Deferral of Department, Carried
Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 101)

Thank you. We have Ms. Charlene Doolittle, deputy minister; and James Bancroft, director of corporate services.

Committee Motion 194-19(2): Tabled Document 561-19(2): Main Estimates 2022-2023 – Education, Culture and Employment – Deferral of Department, Carried
Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 101)

Thank you. So it's a reduction. It shows here as it is a reduction as less money this year than there was last year. So there was a cut to this. That money was then used for, you know, something else, the same way all other money in the territory or the GNWT is used for something else. So it went into a big pot of money and then, you know, it was allocated elsewhere. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 101)

Thank you, and yes, there's a lot of a lot of information that's flowing into the different departments around labour markets, around local economies, and departments are working together to amalgamate it all and make sense of it all. For some information on how that works, I can ask the deputy minister to explain. Thank you.