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 , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 168)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And so I don't have any specific programs for former students of Chief Jimmy Bruneau that I can point to. But there's definitely a recognition in the Northwest Territories of the effects of colonization and residential school and just the Western ideologies that underpin, you know, the Northwest Territories. And so everything that this government does or tries to do has a focus on reconciliation and supporting the residents who were impacted by things like residential school. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 168)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Now, I'm not an expert on those class action lawsuits but from what I understand, they were filed against the Government of Canada. Chief Jimmy Bruneau opened, I believe, 1971, and at the same time, it was there was the RaeEdzo School Society was created. That was the first ever Indigenous run education board in Canada from what I understand. And that was the body that was directing and controlling the school. And so it was not the Government of Canada. It was the RaeEdzo School Society. And that is why, from what I understand, they were not included. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 168)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So the Skills 4 Success isn't a program. It's sort of an overarching framework. And within that framework, we can make adjustments based on things like these jobs in demand reports so we can tailor programs. I will say that a lot of the labour programs that ECE delivers, they're delivered using federal funds, and so there are parameters around those funds. But that being said, those are continuous we're continuously working with the federal government to adjust those parameters based on things like the jobs in demand report and what we hear from employers and from...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 168)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member will be happy to know that nobody is more excited about this report or nobody uses this report more than the Department of Education, Culture and Employment. It's an essential document. We always talk about having data, making datainformed decisions. Well, this is that data. So I'll go through some of the ways we use it here.

First, it's open to the public. So the public can look at this and they can make a determination of what they might want to do. So as the Member stated, school teachers are in high demand, the most high demand job over the next 20 years...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 168)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, later today, residents of Hay River will gather, as they do every October 6th, to remember the life and honour the sacrifice of Constable Christopher Worden.

Sixteen years ago today, on October 6, 2007, at 5:03 a.m., Constable Chris Worden of the Hay River RCMP detachment responded to a call for service. In the tragic events that followed, Constable Worden lost his life in the line of duty. He was just 30 years old, with a wife and 8monthold daughter at home.

According to his wife, Constable Worden would often say that he loved being a Mountie, and there was...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 168)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish the Member would have stopped when he got those yeses from the Minister of ITI earlier. It would have ended this on a high note. But the answer is no, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 168)

Mr. Speaker, I just have to reiterate the Premier's comments from yesterday, when she suggested that anyone who feels that they have a claim against the school should seek legal advice. That's the appropriate recourse in this situation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 168)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The department actually recently completed a review. I guess we completed it back in June. It came to this House. We came looking for more money. We found more money internally, and we really enhanced the SFA program. The Member speaks to completion rates of postsecondary students. So one of the things that we've done is we've removed the barriers to completing programs in terms of the financials. So sometimes residents, they might not do very well in a semester. We're not going to punish them for that. We're going to continue to fund them so that they can move forward...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 168)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And the Member's pointed out that, you know, there is a gap between what the jobs that are going to be in demand that are needed and the education and skills of a number of our residents. And the fact is that has been the case for a long time. We bring a lot of people up from the south because there are a lot of jobs here already that our residents can't fulfill. So, really, this is the land of opportunity. You talk to people who come up here from the south, and they'll tell you oh, I can't believe, you know, the opportunities. If you want to work, if you want to work...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 168)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to recognize some people I have in the gallery here who I've been working with at the Assembly for four years. My ministerial special advisor Rona Sherigan, my EAC Sheila Kotchille. They were a team that was already together when I became a Minister, and I was so happy that I was able to hire both of them. Working with them in the last Assembly, I knew that you know, I knew what a good team they made. I think all Ministers probably think this, but I'm sure we have the busiest office here in the Assembly of all the Ministers, and they manage to keep it organized...