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 , 18th Assembly, 3rd Session (day 39)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just want some clarification on that last answer. The Minister is aware that there have been concerns about the reliability, but he is not concerned about the reliability, so there is nothing in place to test the reliability. Is that correct? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 3rd Session (day 39)

Hopefully the Minister can provide that information sooner than later. This has been discussed in this House before. Officers are being trained to use the equipment, as well as, I believe, to detect impairment without the equipment. I know that there was a training program that officers were going through, and they had a timeline. How many officers in the territory have been trained to date in cannabis impairment testing?

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 3rd Session (day 39)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, for consensus government to work, each Minister must have a clear vision of what they want to achieve and be a strong enough leader to turn that vision into reality. In a party system, Ministers have party members and political staff to help them develop a vision and associated policy. However, in our system, the Ministers' only support staff is the bureaucracy, which is not designed nor mandated to make the bold political decisions that are sometimes necessary. I am concerned that, in the absence of a bold vision, we will squander the opportunity to...

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 3rd Session (day 39)

Mr. Speaker, your committee has been considering Bill 7, Chartered Professional Accountants Act; Minister's Statement 19-18(3), Aurora College Foundational Review Process; and Tabled Document 215-18(3), Capital Estimates, 2019-2020, and would like to report progress, and Mr. Speaker, I move that the report of the Committee of the Whole be concurred with.

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 3rd Session (day 39)

I call Committee of the Whole to order. What is the wish of committee? Mr. Testart.

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 3rd Session (day 39)

I figured it would have been more than four members by now, but I know that there are a lot of challenges facing the RCMP in the territory, and you can't just send them all off for training. Hopefully we can get an updated timeline from the Minister about when all that training will be completed.

One concern that we saw in the media was that these roadside testing kits might fail in cold weather, and I want to know from the Minister: what has the department put in place to monitor the occurrence of false positives so that we are not wrongly charging our residents?

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 3rd Session (day 39)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This cannabis issue is multi-facetted, so I have some questions for the Minister of Justice. He is not going to get off the hook today. There has been a lot of talk of the roadside testing for cannabis for impaired driving, so I would like an update from the Minister. I believe the NWT has procured these roadside drug-testing kits. Have they been distributed across the territory, and are they available to all officers? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 3rd Session (day 38)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, your committee has been considering Bill 7, Chartered Professional Accountants Act; Minister's Statement 19-18(3), Aurora College Foundational Review Process; and Tabled Document 215-18(3), Capital Estimates, 2019-2020, and would like to report progress. Mr. Speaker, I move that the report of the Committee of the Whole be concurred with. Thank you.

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 3rd Session (day 38)

I will call Committee of the Whole to order. What is the wish of committee? Mr. Beaulieu.

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 3rd Session (day 38)

I understand that the public administrator isn't running the day-to-day operations. Like the Minister said, he can provide advice to the Minister about what needs to happen. So will the Minister commit to sit down with Mr. Willows and produce a document that identifies the problems in Hay River and ways to address them with clear goals and deliverables so that people can see progress is being made?