R.J. Simpson

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
Email
Rj_simpson@ntassembly.ca
Phone
867-767-9141 (link is a phone number)
Extension
11120
Constituency Office

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

Phone
867-874-6301(link is a phone number)
Minister
Email
Rj_simpson@gov.nt.ca
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 51)

Thank you. I don't. I never communicate with the folks at OROGO. Perhaps the deputy minister might want to speak to this. Thank you.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 51)

Thank you. I'd like to pass that to Mr. Courtoreille witness.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 51)

Thank you, Madam Chair. Perhaps I can hand it to deputy minister for some more information on that. Thank you.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 51)

Thank you. So that position has been eliminated for the future fiscal years. So there is not a solid plan on who is going to fill that role or how that's going to be filled. That's still in discussion. Perhaps the deputy minister can add some more detail to this issue. Thank you.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 51)

Thank you. I don't have that information on hand. I apologize to the Member.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 51)

Yes, Madam Chair.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 51)

Thank you. And there's definitely a lot of overlap between, you know, all government departments, but health and justice in particular, and so there's types of supports for people who are not in the system yet or not yet -- are not offenders yet, those generally sit with health. We do have some examples in justice. For example, the men's healing fund, which in the last government I tried to put over to health because I thought it was more appropriate to be in health. But for the most part, we provide services to people in the system. That being said, I just spoke about proactive engagement...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 51)

. Thank you. I'll ask the deputy minister to speak to that.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 51)

Thank you. No, so youth can also apply directly to -- they can apply directly. They don't have to wait for a judge to order it. Thank you.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 51)

Thank you, Madam Chair. And for the most part, we have multi-year agreements. That being said, we do want to be flexible and sometimes communities only want a single year agreement. And so we are open to working with the communities to determine how to best support them. So, for example, we moved the men's healing fund to a multi-year agreement. And I know that's been appreciated for the reasons the Member has stated. And, yes, we're going to -- we'll continue to be as flexible as we can given any restrictions that the federal government might put on any of these funds that are part of a...