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 , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 34)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And there's no doubt that the Street Outreach program has been successful. I've spoken with the RCMP about it, and there's definitely a noticeable decrease in the types of calls that they have to respond to because of that team, and so I'm very supportive of that. Right now, the program is undergoing a review by the city of Yellowknife and so once we see the outcomes of that review, we'll have a better idea of what we actually need to do, what type of support they might need from the GNWT, and we can look at what types of funding that could be accessed at that point...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 34)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And the department has looked at this previously. It was a few years ago, maybe around 2015 I believe. So currently there is an oversight body in the territory, the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission. They review investigations into RCMP conduct. As the Member stated earlier, though, those investigations are conducted by other police bodies, whether it's the RCMP or perhaps a municipal police force. The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team is something different. It's not headed by a police force. It's -- there's a civilian essentially at the head of that, and...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 34)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to present to the House Bill 11, An Act to Amend the Motor Vehicles Act, to be read for the first time. Thank you.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 34)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Instead of just receiving a notice in the mail, staff went there to personally speak with employees, to let them know what the options are going forward, because there is no more funding for that facility at the end of this fiscal year. Thank you.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 34)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I need a little more specificity in that request. That's a lot of reporting. We will have reporting through the UNDRIP Implementation Act plan. You know, we have a Member from Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight attending the Council of Leaders meetings. We do share negotiation updates with the Members. But if there's something that we can do, if the Member has something specific in mind, I'm happy to work with him and see what else we can make public. Thank you.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 34)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So I've been furiously trying to find the Bourque report online. It's not that easy to find so I don't have it at my fingertips right now. But from what I've heard in the territory, the path forward is settling land claims. That's what I'm hearing from the Indigenous governments. I am interested in looking at the report. Whenever I hear about constitutional reform, I think that that would take all of our efforts and all of our focus would be on that and we wouldn't be achieving other things that might be more close -- closer in reach for us. So I'll leave it at that...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 34)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So without knowing exactly what the unit is going to encounter in their investigations because they're investigating -- they're looking into all of the data that's been collected over the years, all of the reports that have been published, they're hearing from frontline staff, from others within the department and the authorities. I can't say that we'll make everything public but I can definitely commit to providing regular updates to the Members and to the public through this House and other forums over the course of this initiative so that people can see what's...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 34)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So that's the work that this unit is going to do. I'll say the majority of what the health authorities do, the programs and services they deliver, they're necessary. They're not optional. You know, we're not going to send people who need dialysis all down south to the provinces to get their treatment. The types of services that residents need in the territory and that we can reasonably expect to deliver in the territory, we want to continue doing that. But the fact is that there's programming across the department -- or across the authorities that it could be...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 34)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And the Member's correct, the review is out. We are reviewing the review, so that's the work that's happening now.

The Council of Leaders, this is not a topic that has been raised at the Council of Leaders. The agenda there are decided upon by consensus or as close as we can get to consensus, and this has not come up yet. But the new commanding officer is scheduled to meet with the NWT Council of Leaders at the next meeting, so I look forward to seeing what comes of that. Thank you.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 34)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And that is a priority. In fact, as Minister of Justice I establish the RCMP policing priorities. We go out for input from Indigenous governments and other stakeholders and from that we craft a limited number of policing priorities. One of those is to provide policing services that are responsive to the needs of Indigenous women, girls, families, and children experiencing family intimate partner violence and sexualized violence in the NWT. And there's only four priorities, and so that is one of the four priorities. So it is a priority for myself, and we've made it a...