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 117)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When people bring forward complaints, they can bring them forward to the RCMP or to a civilian oversight group, the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission.

In 20172018, there were 33 complaints. In 20182019, there were 32 complaints. In 20192020, 32 complaints. In 2021, there were 18 complaints. And in 20212022, there were ten complaints. As of May 13th in this fiscal year, there have been three. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 117)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No additional resources are needed. We are making our way through hundreds of names, as I mentioned. And we are fully staffed. I know that the Government of Nunavut has had some staffing issues with that toponymist position, but luckily we've been able to maintain staff and are making our way through that.

We do have a geographical and community names policy of the Executive Council, and that guides how communities and geographical features are renamed. And I don't think that there's any sort of, you know, policy adjustments required, any sort of additional resources...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 117)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can't bind future governments but I'm confident that we will see a name change in the Member's lifetime. I wish the Member a very long life. But the plan has been to as the Member knows, we are working to address some of the infrastructure issues at the museum, some type of retrofit, perhaps a new governance model, and tied in with that would be a name change. Instead of just slapping a new name on an old building, we want to package it all together so it is a new there's a sense of renewal associated with it so it's not just we're doing it for the sake of doing it...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 117)

Abstain.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 117)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That is part of the RCMP training. As well, Gdivision, the RCMP in the Northwest Territories, have requirements for new members to engage with the community once they become part of that community, to meet with elders, to participate in community events. And there's a number of other things that a number of other things that happen in the territory in response to the MMIWG and TRC that the department is the lead on, not necessarily the RCMP. The community safety officer pilot project, the there are community justice programs which we've had for a number of decades now...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 116)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I understand the Member's frustration. Sometimes the rumour mill gets ahead of government and before there are decisions made, before all of the steps are followed, that information can be shared. Information gets leaked and so that was the situation. It came as a surprise to a number of people and so it wasn't by design that things were out there in the public before the MLAs were informed.

Really, the team looked at everywhere in Yellowknife. There were some requirements that, you know, were needed. So the space needed to be large enough for future expansion. There...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 116)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A similar meeting isn't necessary because it's not a similar situation in Fort Smith. That being said, I was on the phone with the mayor of Fort Smith and a number of councillors on Friday discussing this very issue. I wanted to give them assurances that this was not a situation that, you know, some people are now assuming that it is, that there is going to be a single campus in Yellowknife or Yellowknife is absorbing all of the campuses or anything like that. I wanted to let them know that this was part of the ongoing process of developing a facilities master plan that...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 116)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Since the time that our Premier was the Minister of Education, the messaging has been that the idea of a main campus is outdated. We have three campuses, and we have a number of community learning centres that all form one organization.

That being said, there is no plan to move the administrative headquarters from Fort Smith to Yellowknife. I think that some people perhaps, you know, saw that there was something happening with the campus in Yellowknife and assumed that everything was getting sucked into the capital. That is not the case. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 116)

In favour.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 116)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I didn't hear a question there but the asking is happening now. There's actually a process being administered by the City of Yellowknife where public input will be solicited. So that's what's happening. Thank you.