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 18)

Yes, I do.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 18)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And so there is an office in Ottawa that is leased by the GNWT. There has been a position associated with that office. That is proposed as a reduction, that position. But we have a number of years left on that lease. And so we are looking at how to best utilize that space, and there are discussions happening. I know that the space is used by Indigenous governments, by negotiators, by Regular Members. I used the office myself as a Regular Member. So we definitely see the value in it. We want to be able to bring federal Ministers into our space in Ottawa, take them out of...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 18)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Public Utilities Board is the energy regulator in the Northwest Territories. So if NT Power Corporation wants to increase its prices, it has to make an application to the Public Utilities Board. We have a Minister responsible for the Public Utilities Board, and that is Minister McKay. It is arm's length from government as it is it regulates, you know, government entities. And the budget has remained the same, I believe, for many years. I briefly held this portfolio about four years ago, and the budget is relatively similar to what it was then. Thank you.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 18)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And there were it took time to ramp up the program. There was a requirement to find people, to train people, and that's not always a quick task. And so it didn't move as quickly as we would have hoped. Maybe the deputy minister has more information on that. I can hand it to her, maybe not, but we'll try. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 17)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So this is a it's a long story. So going back to February, of course, we sat in this House and there was a request for a public inquiry. That came after the decision was made to hold this extensive after-action review where the department would go out or hire a contractor to go out, look at everything that happened in terms of the 2023 fire season response, hold public meetings, speak with staff, and then generate a report with recommendations. Because there was a desire to ensure that this was not influenced by government, the idea it actually came after a meeting I...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 17)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. One of the big issues now is that over the last number of years, you know, in the last 2010s, there were changes to the Criminal Code, there were decisions from the Supreme Court, all of which have resulted in people who are arrested not being remanded into custody but granted bail. And they're arrested, they're back out later that day. And some of these offenders, you know, they are innocent until proven guilty, but then they're arrested again the next day or the next week, and they continue this pattern. And so we are seeing that the deterrent of not being remanded is...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 17)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don't quite know what I can say here. I know the budget is before the Committee of the Whole, so I don't want to speak too much about it. But I look forward to that budget passing and us getting our crime reduction unit up and running. Thank you.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 17)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Build that wall. I'm just joking, of course. The territorial border, it is a you know, it is a border but in Canada, there are mobility rights. We can't just stop people at the border and search their vehicles. There was a time when it was easier to do that. But unfortunately, we don't have that ability. So what we do is we work with or the RCMP, I suppose, undertakes investigations. They try their best to stop drugs before they come into the territory. And I always say, we need people to bring information forward. The RCMP need credible tips to act upon. So I'd...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 17)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm happy to I don't want to say that we're going to develop some working group to look into these things, but what the Member is talking about is the way, I think, that we need to go forward. This government is integrating services. We have our homelessness strategy, which is really looking at how we can better support people who are experiencing homelessness, what sort of wraparound supports we can provide, how to better provide those supports. So that's the type of work that we are doing moving forward. Thank you.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 17)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don't have the list of communities at my fingertips, but the engagement will be robust. I'm happy to get back to the Member with that information. Thank you.