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
Email
Phone
867-767-9141
Extension
11120
Constituency Office

62, promenade Woodland, bureau 104
Hay River Nord NT X0E 1G1
Canada

Phone
867-874-6301
Minister
Email
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 145)

Thank you, Madam Chair. So with a new board of governors in place, they will be making those types of decisions along with the college administration. So I know that Members have been accustomed to asking those questions of the Minister but with the change in relationship and with the establishment of the board, things are going to operate differently now. So I can't comment on future decisions of the board. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 145)

Thank you. I have Mr. John MacDonald, the deputy minister of Education, Culture and Employment. As well as Mr. Mike Saturnino, the assistant deputy minister of labour and income security. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 145)

Yes. And as part of that work that I talked about, there will be a contractor going out and engaging with communities to talk about the community learning centres and the types of programming that they might have. So the Member can well, that will be happening as well. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 145)

Thank you. I expect an announcement next week and all of the instruments to establish the board to all be completed this month. Thank you.

Tabled Document 870-19(2): Annual Reports for the Education Bodies of the Northwest Territories for the 2021-2022 School Year ending June 30, 2022
Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 145)

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document: Annual Reports for the Education Bodies of the Northwest Territories for the 20212022 School Year, ending June 30th, 2022, volumes 1 and 2. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 145)

Thank you. So what we're proposing here is this upcoming fiscal year. So this is the next year. So there are no additional positions in this area being proposed for the Tlicho region. The Member can stay tuned for perhaps some other positions in some other areas in the Tlicho region that she might be seeing sometime soon though. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 145)

Thank you. I'll hand it to Mr. Saturnino.

Question 1423-19(2): Nunakput Court Travel
Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 145)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I recognize the Member's concerns. Unfortunately, I don't have that level of detail about the operations of the courts. The travel schedule and those logistical pieces are the decisions of the courts so it's not my decision to make. But I can look into it and get back to the Member. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 145)

Thank you. So the reason it's separated is because we have regional offices that deliver services directly to the public and we have those in each of the regions, including the North Slave. Separate from that is the headquarters office, and they do the headquarters work. So the same way that our CDOs, or career development officers in Hay River and Fort Smith, they're in Yellowknife. And that's the recognition of that.

The increase in positions is a and, you know, I'll hand it over. It's a bit of an adjustment based on some previous changes. So I think it's more technical than anything else...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 145)

Thank you. So that's a program that a school can run if it wishes to. They have that flexibility. One of the biggest barriers to programs like that are having teachers who also happen to be, say, journey persons. So they are in short demand; you know, skilled labour and skilled labour who are also teachers. It's a rare combination so that really is the biggest barrier. But if a school board has you know, they want to do that, they can do it if they can get the teaching resources. Thank you.