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 55)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As this is a motion that is going to be directing standing committee to do work, it is essentially -- the committee could do this work without this motion so there's really not a purpose for Cabinet to vote on this. I don't want to begin meddling into the inner operations of standing committee. So Cabinet will be abstaining for those reasons. Thank you.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 54)

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Yellowknife South, that Bill 22, Legislation Act, be read for the second time.

The proposed Legislation Act sets out comprehensive rules about the processes for enacting, certifying, and publishing laws in the Northwest Territories and for ensuring laws remain up to date. This will consolidate existing provisions about these processes that are found separately in several statutes and will update and modernize current practices. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 54)

Mr. Speaker, I wish to present to the House Bill 23, An Act to Amend the Children's Law Act, to be read for the first time. Thank you.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 54)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I know we're not supposed to get into hypotheticals here on the floor, so I'll leave that one alone. Thank you.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 54)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's very complicated. So the legislation that would be required is a Police Act which is the type of legislation that would allow municipalities to set up their own police forces and things like that. So it's not a simple community safety officer piece of legislation; it's much broader.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 54)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So the idea behind the envoy is to have a dedicated, proactive, and strategic link between the political offices in Ottawa and the political offices here in the Northwest Territories. That's what's often needed to get things moving. And as to whether or not the position is permanent, well nothing in politics is permanent, so I can't speak for the future of the position past this government. And even during the life of this government, we'll see things work. I think too often the government will make a decision and then stick with it whether or not it's working. I'm...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 54)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There's no doubt that the focus these days is on the economy, and that's across Canada. You know, because we're facing a threat from an external actor who is really threatening our economic stability and viability of our country. So the economy is going to loom large with the role of the senior envoy. And the purpose of this role is to have a connection with Ottawa so that we can move things along. There's big projects that we can't do ourselves here in the Northwest Territories. Things like the Mackenzie Valley Highway, we'll definitely need federal support for that...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 54)

Mr. Speaker, I wish to present to the House Bill 24, An Act to Amend the Family Law Act, to be read for the first time. Thank you.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 54)

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following two documents: Plain Language Summary for Bill 22, Legislation Act; and, the Statement of Consistency for Bill 22, Legislation Act. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 54)

Mr. Speaker, there's a lot of legislation I would love to bring forward during the life of this Assembly. The Police Act, you know, that would be one of them; you know, Sheriffs Act, I could probably go on and on and on. But we have limited resources, and we have to provide the legislation for the entire territory. The same way Ontario, Alberta, all these other jurisdictions have to provide legislation, we have to do that as well but we're a much smaller jurisdiction, so it's more difficult to deliver that amount of legislation. So for this Assembly, we have a full agenda, but future...