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
Extension
11120
Constituency Office

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

Phone
Minister
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 86)

Thank you, Madam Chair. I mean, that's a bit of mixing of my portfolios but no, we haven't looked into something like that. And the thing about corrections, it is very rigid. There are a lot of rules around how inmates are dealt with and, you know, I think the Member noted that he used to go there to visit his friends and I think if you're from the North and you go to a correctional facility, you're going to see someone you know, if not someone that you grew up with. And so it's not like these are full of people who are, you know, extremely dangerous. A lot of people have made bad choices. A...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 86)

Thank you. The other route that was mentioned by the other Member from Hay River was from I guess the existing trail towards the Prince of Wales Heritage Centre. There is no walkway there either. Why was this route chosen over that route? And the reason I ask is because the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre is a public building and, you know, generally, in normal times, we're also also open to the public here at the Assembly. But I imagine they get more visitors, more foot traffic than we get here. And I know that the Assembly is responsible for the it's capitol area, I believe. And I...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 86)

Thank you, Madam Chair. I will have to pass this one off, but I'll say that the current numbers are reflective to, I think, a great extent of the COVID19 situation and the fact that, you know, both corrections, and the courts especially, made the conscious effort to try and reduce the number of inmates. Whether or not those numbers go back up is yet to be seen, but I think that we have seen the numbers stay low and we haven't seen any sort of repercussions in the communities. So I think it's promising and, hopefully, we can keep these numbers down and people don't see a need to keep people...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 86)

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following three documents: Aurora College Corporate Plan 2021/2022; Revised Aurora College Capital Budget 2021/2022; and, 2020-2021 Annual Report on Official Languages. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 86)

Thank you. We don't have correctional facilities but we do have probation officers in those communities who travel. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 86)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I would not say that they have no future. I think there is a future for everyone. There's Members in this Assembly who dropped out of high school and went back and, you know, accomplished quite a bit with their lives. So I would never say that the student has no future.

Right now, this Assembly has prioritized education to the greatest degree, I think we've seen, in quite a while. So there's a lot of efforts to going into assisting students right from before they enter school in their early childhood through the JK to 12 system and then once they're out. Even if they...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 86)

Thank you. Perhaps I can pass that on to the deputy minister. First, I just want to comment that I'm aware that we have lower numbers right now and I've looked into what we can  what sort of savings we can expect, if any, understanding that there's often a lot of fixed costs and you don't save a lot if the numbers fluctuate a little bit. But I this is an area where perhaps we will have some savings in the future. But as it stands, these vans presently do need to be replaced. But I can ask the deputy minister for some more information. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 86)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Department of Education, Culture and Employment provides some broad strategic direction to education bodies. It provides funding to education bodies. But really it's the education bodies themselves, the DEAs and DECs, who really deliver the education to students. And so I can talk about the supports that ECE provides, but really the -- obviously the majority of the supports are at that level. So ECE has the ministerial directive on inclusive schooling and that provides explicit funding for and direction to education bodies on supports for students in the territory...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 86)

Thank you. That work has been done, and I believe the final inspection is on December 3rd. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 86)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So article 19 also mentions several steps in determining the RCMPdirected reviews where contract partners, such as ourselves, have input into the work. So it would be a hundred percent funded review as sort of a last step if we don't get satisfaction through those other methods. So every fiscal year the contract management committee, made up of ADMs and policing from across the country, Public Safety Canada and some municipal representatives, may provide certain matters to be audited in the RCMP's operations, and there's a strategic advantage to this process as the...