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 101)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don't have the data at my fingertips. I'd be happy to get back to the Member with that information. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Madam Chair. And there is some flexibility already built into the program but like I said, there's students every year who start attending postsecondary and for one reason or another, it doesn't work out; it's not for them. Perhaps it's mental health issues. Perhaps it's, you know, family tragedies. There's a number of reasons why students don't make it through a school year. And we don't have exceptions in, you know, the majority of cases although there are some exceptions. And this is, you know, in the we don't want to start making exceptions for students who, I guess, knew that...

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

Thank you. So the advisory boards that the Member is speaking about, they were they came into existence, I believe October 1st under the new when the new Corrections Act came into force.

We advertised for applicants. We received, unfortunately, very few, and so we extended the application period and we enlisted the MLAs to try and to help us get the word out and, you know, talk to interested people. I can ask the deputy minister for some information on where we are with that and potentially any costs associated. Thank you.

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

Few minutes I guess I move that the chair rise and report progress, and I'll answer the question tomorrow. Thank you.

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

Thank you. With the current education advisers that are quite recent positions at ECE, they have been communicating this type of information with schools. We have some people on that team that have trades experience, and they've really been champions of this.

We now have I believe nine positions, and the majority have been moved out into the regions. Their work has been hindered by COVID and the inability to really, you know, meet facetoface with a lot of students. But there is definitely a push to get exactly this type of information and tradesrelated information out to students so that as...

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

Thank you. No, but there we do have the wellness court and the domestic violence treatment options court. So there are some other options. But no, we don't have a super committee in mind for community justice committees. Thank you.

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

Thank you. So the main estimates say these are the highlights, and I guess it wasn't determined that this was a highlight of the budget. But I've stated, I don't know how many times now, that there was a reduction to the budget of OROGO, and I apologize for not stating that in the in my opening remarks. But I've stated it numerous times now. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Madam Chair. And for the record, it's been Mr. Michael Saturnino who's been here, and I'd like to switch him out for Mr. Sam Shannon. Thank you.

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

Thank you. Yes, I can get that for the Member momentarily here.

So in NSCC, there are 53. SMCC, nine. FSCC female, four. And FSCC male, there are eight. Thank you.

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

Thank you. That has not been brought forward. Thank you.