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
Email
Rj_simpson@ntassembly.ca
Phone
867-767-9141 (link is a phone number)
Extension
11120
Constituency Office

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

Phone
867-874-6301(link is a phone number)
Minister
Email
Rj_simpson@gov.nt.ca
Premier of the Northwest Territories, Minister of Executive and Indigenous Affairs, Minister of Justice, Government House Leader

Statements in Debates

Committee Motion 297-19(2): Tabled Document 723-19(2): Capital Estimates 2023-2024 – Legislative Assembly – Deferral of Department (page 14), Carried
Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 123)

Thank you, Madam Chair. I have no problem disclosing who the building owner is. Thank you.

Committee Motion 297-19(2): Tabled Document 723-19(2): Capital Estimates 2023-2024 – Legislative Assembly – Deferral of Department (page 14), Carried
Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 123)

Thank you, Madam Chair. So as I understand it, the costs aren't laid out in the capital estimates. Thank you.

Committee Motion 297-19(2): Tabled Document 723-19(2): Capital Estimates 2023-2024 – Legislative Assembly – Deferral of Department (page 14), Carried
Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 123)

Thank you, Madam Chair. I have Charlene Doolittle, the deputy minister for the Department of Justice, and James Bancroft, the director of corporate services.

Bill 57: Miscellaneous Statute Law Amendment Act 2022
Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 123)

Mr. Speaker, I wish to present to the House Bill 57, Miscellaneous Statute Law Amendment Act 2022, to be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Committee Motion 297-19(2): Tabled Document 723-19(2): Capital Estimates 2023-2024 – Legislative Assembly – Deferral of Department (page 14), Carried
Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 123)

Thank you. I don't I'm not sure who the owner of that building is, thank you. But we can find out and get that information to the Member. Thank you.

Committee Motion 297-19(2): Tabled Document 723-19(2): Capital Estimates 2023-2024 – Legislative Assembly – Deferral of Department (page 14), Carried
Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 123)

Thank you, Madam Chair. You know, I'll just hand it to Mr. Bancroft. He has the details on this one.

Committee Motion 297-19(2): Tabled Document 723-19(2): Capital Estimates 2023-2024 – Legislative Assembly – Deferral of Department (page 14), Carried
Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 123)

Yes, please.

Motion to Amend Committee Motion 283-19(2), Carried
Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 122)

Thank you, Madam Chair. To the amendment, I do think the amendment does improve on the previous recommendation. Once again, the previous recommendation or the main motion is very prescriptive. It's the Assembly encroaching on how Members run their offices. It's saying you will share an office in a central location. We've already seen a bit of that encroachment occur today, and so I'm happy that actually the Member reversed course and went a different direction on this one because I think it is an improvement.

I do have an office downtown in Hay River, a constituency office. I made sure that I...

Question 1194-19(2): Small Communities Educational Outcomes and Data Availability
Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 122)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I don't have that. When a client goes to apply for income assistance, we don't ask what their level of education is. And, you know, I think as a government we need to always be mindful of how much information we are requesting. However, I get the Member's point; it would be useful information. I think that we're at a point, though, where we have a good sense of what the education system is like across the territory in communities. We have a lot of data out there, and we just need to start implementing or continue to implement some of these new initiatives to help...

Question 1193-19(2): Impact of New Federal Benefits on Income Assistance Clients
Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 122)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So the first reading by the Senate was on October 6th. So I don't think that those benefits have been finalized yet. I understand that the federal government should have them finalized and money should be flowing perhaps by the end of this month.

When that happens, I can say that we will be exempting the additional GST that clients may be receiving. So currently GST rebates are counted as income against someone's income assistance. But understanding that the reason this is being doubled is because of the record inflation that we're facing, we are not going to count that...