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 , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 51)

Thank you. The department does feel adequately resourced to do that work. Thank you.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 51)

Thank you. So I have them broken down by calendar year. So in 2025, there have been eight children. 2024, 38. 2023, 34. 2022, 38. 2021, 31. Thank you.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 51)

Thank you. Yes, the men's healing program, it's gone through some changes since it was first introduced. We've allowed -- or made multi-year agreements available and so for a number of years, it was fully subscribed. Perhaps I can get Mr. Bancroft to speak on this one and talk about some of the numbers involved and -- yes, I'll leave it at that. Thank you.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 51)

Thank you. With your indulgence, I would like to swap out my witnesses for this section.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 51)

Yes. Thank you.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 51)

Thank you. So this is $800,000 a year for the next few years, and so it's not a lot of money to put a lot of boots on the ground per se. One of the other items I failed to mention that this is funding is a safety analyst position and -- yes, in this division, I guess. And so that's going to help identify where we could put more resources or how we can better utilize our resources.

I'll note that the crime reduction unit, you know, the Member said it's to go after the big fish, I wouldn't necessarily say we have any big fish in the territory when it comes to organized crime. We get a lot of the...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 51)

Thank you. And so the primary health care reform is the responsibility of health and social services. The department, they are leading that work, and we are here to support that work. We're all here to support each other. And so the work that is being done by this unit can inform that work.

I'll note that, you know, there -- I think there might be a perception, and I hope it's not coming from me because I've never said this, but the idea of this unit is to not just find what we can cut and save some money. It is to make the system sustainable. As the Member mentioned in his latter comments...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 51)

I'll pass it to deputy minister. Thank you.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 51)

Thank you. So some of the metrics are things like the calls for service received by the community safety officers and the calls for service for the RCMP, has this had an impact on their calls for service. How many nights are people spending in cells, RCMP cells. These are the types of things that we would hope the program would help to address. Anything further I should add? Maybe I'll hand it to Mr. Bancroft; he might have some more information. Thank you.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 51)

Thank you. First, I'll note that the plan isn't to just see what's easiest to cut without the public noticing for the sake of cutting. The idea is to work to achieve the priorities of this Assembly to improve access to basic health care. And so that's the ultimate goal, And how we get there is going to be determined on, you know, what we find out during this analysis. But I'm not looking for easy, you know, political decisions; I'm looking to improve the healthcare system, whatever that -- whatever that takes. But for the remainder of the question, I'd hand it to Mr. Courtoreille. Thank you.