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

R.J. Simpson
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 167)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There will be engagement if it's shown that the Tin Can Hill site is viable as an option for the new campus. Right now, they are undertaking a phase 2 environmental assessment. The phase 1 assessment showed there is moderate potential for contaminated soil or groundwater and so that work is happening. I believe that we were expecting it to be done this fall but because we were evacuated, the expectation is for the spring. So once that information is in, that will be provided to the board and to the college. They will look at it and make a determination if they want to...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 167)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As far as I know, we don't claw back disability payments. We don't do debt collection for the federal government. So I look forward to the Member providing some more concrete information that I can look into. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 167)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm going to need a bit more detail on the Member's comments. I know he had a statement. He was throwing around some acronyms, throwing around a bunch of numbers. So I can say that the CERB program, that was exempted from the calculations for income assistance. So there were people who claimed that who are on income assistance, and I understand that the federal government has been clawing some of those payments back or requiring repayment of some of those payments if the individuals weren't eligible. The CRB program, which came after the CERB program, was not exempted...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 167)

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the Honourable Member for Yellowknife South that Bill 65, Builders' Lien Act, be read for the third time. And, Mr. Speaker, I request a recorded vote. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 167)

Thank you, Madam Chair. So we just approved a rule saying every Member shall sit on Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight. Now this speaks to Members being removed from the Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight, which would mean the removal of the Member would then put them in violation of the previous rule? I'm just a little confused about this. And, again, there's no one to ask these questions to I'm not quite sure what to do with this. But I guess that's a situation that will arise or we'll deal with it when it happens. Thanks.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 167)

Thank you, Madam Chair. So I'm I have some questions about this. So this is stating that each Regular Member shall sit on a minimum of two committees in addition to the Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight. So it says every Regular Member shall sit on the Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight. And so if a Member is not sitting on the Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight, they're in violation of the rules I suppose. So I wonder what would be the redress if they were in violation of those rules? I know we don't have witnesses here but this is just...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 167)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There is a lot of engagement to come. So after we get the report back from the phase 2 environmental assessment, that'll determine the next steps. And before there's any shovels in the ground, there will be a significant amount of engagement, hopefully partnerships with Indigenous governments, hopefully economic opportunities that will be realized. So with only, you know, a couple weeks left here, I can't make any commitments to go out and, you know, do more engagement on this. But all of that work will happen. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 167)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A number of sites were looked at. There's a number of different options for postsecondary campuses. Some campuses are all located in one area. Some are located in downtowns with buildings located on different blocks of the city. And so the model that was chosen for the for Aurora College North Slave Campus was a model where we wanted to be close to downtown, close to transit, close to places that people can live, but all in one place so that students can live near the school and somewhere near, you know, outdoor areas as well, so that people maybe coming from the...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 167)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This government did exempt a significant amount of the federal supports that were provided to residents by the Government of Canada. We made clear that certain income from the government would be deducted. And so there should be no reason now why income support is clawing anything back because those residents would have claimed that they were receiving that income at that time. I'll also note that although it is delayed, the rollout of the new income assistance program, this government has increased income has approved increases to income assistance that we haven't...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 167)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm not quite clear what the Member is referencing, what he means by disability payments. I'm going to need a bit more detail on this. I know that the folks who administer income assistance, they are as compassionate as they can be. We do have regulations. And so they must the program is regulated and so they must follow those regulations. It is the law. And so while they are compassionate as they can be, there are some parameters that they have to follow. So I'm happy to look into this further. And if the Member can provide a bit more concrete information about what...