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 47)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I mentioned earlier, our Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs had to step out so on his behalf, I would like to -- I announced that earlier for those Members who were in the House, that they probably remember that.

Mr. Speaker, I'd like to recognize Their Worships, Frank Pope and Peter Clarkson, and welcome them to the capital for the NWTAC AGM as well as to this House. So thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 47)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And as I stated earlier, a lot of that work has already started. Public Safety Canada has gone into the community. I've gone into the community, met with leadership, along with my deputy minister. The RCMP, as I mentioned, I have -- I've made one of their priorities to strengthen relationships with Indigenous governments. So ensuring that those touch points are actually happening, that those conversations are happening, is important.

And one of the most important things that the community can do is report things to the RCMP. And I understand that there's times when...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 47)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the 20th Legislative Assembly has made the safety of the residents and communities of the Northwest Territories one of its priorities. Many of us have witnessed and been affected by an increase in criminal activities, particularly the drug trade. Successful public safety efforts rely on trusting relationships between the RCMP and our residents.

In November 2024, Northwest Territories RCMP officers began wearing body worn cameras. By the end of March 2025, officers in 17 of 21 detachments will be equipped with this technology. The remaining four detachments...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 47)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And so there's been conversations over the last number of years about the Mackenzie Delta LNG project concept. And, of course, IRC has been busy advancing its Inuvialuit energy security project in the meantime. The opportunity remains for IRC to pursue larger scale LNG project opportunities in the Beaufort Delta; for example, that could result in exportation to Asian Pacific markets where the LNG demand is growing as we know. That being said, this is all happening in the Inuvialuit settlement region so we are following their lead. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 47)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The question took a bit of a left turn there. It started talking about wellness. I thought it was going to go a different direction, so I probably need a bit of clarity on what was asked. I think it was about how the territorial government can work with the community to access some of these funds; is that correct?

The community can reach out, and we can have those conversations. That's not a problem. You know, we have a number of departments with relationships with the federal government that have awareness of different potential pots of money, and so either through the...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 47)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. You know, as a Cabinet, as Ministers, we engage with Indigenous governments quite often, whether it's a one-on-one discussion, whether I just get a text or an email or a phone call from an Indigenous leader, or it's through a more formal process like the Council of Leaders or the bilateral meetings that we as Cabinet have with Indigenous governments, and this is often a topic of discussion in those different forums. And so that's how, you know, we get a lot of our feedback.

I'll let the Member know that just the other day I was on a call with the federal Minister of...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 47)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And there is more than just one team doing work in the Northwest Territories. Throughout the Northwest Territories, there's dedicated groups of volunteer who might not be part of a structured incorporated group that go out and do this work on a quite regular basis, depending on the circumstances. But that group is -- you know, we don't have a coordinating body, as I said and right now the report itself suggested that the EMO, the emergency management organization, take over these functions. The EMO does not have that capacity at this time. And we'll be responding to...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 47)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A couple years ago, a few years ago, the federal government offered us some money to undertake a review of search and rescue in the Northwest Territories, and so we did that, and the report came back with a number of recommendations. The responses -- the government's responses to those recommendations have been tabled in this House as part of a response to a written question that the Member made. And so what that written response says is that the government is not adopting those recommendations, so there will be no action plan. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 47)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And so it sounds like the Member's aware that once you start renovating something, once you open those walls, you never know what you're going to find, and there could be extraordinary costs that you don't expect. That being said, if there are units that lend themselves to potential renovations, we can have a look at those and do our best to figure out whether or not we might run into some of those issues, and then they go from there. So we don't want to write anything off without even looking into it.

When it comes to the transitional housing piece -- I don't want to...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 47)

Minister of Justice, thank you. Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Hay River South, that Bill 12, Business Day Statute Law Amendment Act, be read for the third time. And, Mr. Speaker, I request a recorded vote. Thank you.