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 9)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will have to confer with the Minister of Finance, but I do know that public servants do have some whistleblower protection under section 2 of the Charter, freedom of expression, and in certain circumstances. But that's not a decision for me. I have to confer with my colleague, the Minister of Finance as she is responsible for the Public Service Act. So I will do that as soon as reasonably possible. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 9)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So we have our own afteraction review that we are currently trying to start. I wish that the RFP would have gone out last week, and we wanted a bit more time to work with Members but that is going to happen imminently. And so that review is going forward. Happy to hear anything that Members have to say on that. I know that I was I know my answers on the floor of the House yesterday. That's what that that was the response I was told I was going to get on the floor of the House, but if there's more feedback that the Members have I'm happy to hear that. If there's...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 8)

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document: Followup letter for Oral Question 320(1), Implementation of the Recommendations of Strengthening Supports for Non-Profit Sector. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 8)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the public inquiry is being sold as the only way for the public's voices to be heard and as the only morally upright option that we have. But neither of those are accurate. I caution Members from making this an issue of good versus evil. I think the Member from Hay River South spoke pretty eloquently about his connection to the evacuations and the wildfire season. I have a similar one. It's been two years now where it's been constant disasters, constant evacuations. And when I went door to door, this is the one thing, this was on the top of everyone's list...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 8)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So just for the public's awareness and the new Members, when these motions come forward and they ask for a response under 120 days, the government generally abstains so we will be abstaining. Thank you.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 8)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Cabinet will be abstaining from any amendments, or the amendments that we have been made aware of, and reserve the vote until the final motion that committee wants to bring forward is put together. I understand there may be a number of amendments and so we'll be abstaining on all of them. Thank you.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 7)

Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Friday, February 23rd, 2024, I will present Bill 2, Missing Person's Act, to be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 7)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I'll do my best of course. The Minister of Finance isn't here today, and so I know that questions directed to other  it would normally go to other Ministers than come to the Premier when the appropriate Minister is not here. Just a bit of education to the public on why I'm answering these. So I'll do my best. It's a big question because there actually is a lot happening. This was a huge focus in the last government as the Member recalls, and so a lot of work has begun. So I can't go through everything that is happening but if you look at the Indigenous Recruitment...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 7)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Many of those contracts are based on federal funding and so we have very limited abilities in those situations. When it's GNWT funding, there's a greater ability to collaborate. But I'll just take a guess that we could probably do more collaboration. I think we can always do more collaboration, and that's going to lead to more to better results and more satisfied organizations and people. So it is you know, I've been preaching about this for quite some time now, so I look forward to enhancing our collaboration with the NGOs. Thank you.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 7)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No, there is no centralized collection of those. There is a number of departments and agencies with contracts and contributions with nonprofits, but I can say that the as part of our homelessness strategy, A Way Home, the integrated services delivery team is tasked with compiling those into a central repository. Thank you.