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
Email
Phone
867-767-9141
Extension
11120
Constituency Office

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

Phone
867-874-6301
Minister
Email
Email
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 143)

Thank you. I imagine that every time a new collective agreement is negotiated that there will be increases. The current collective agreement expires at the end of this month. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 143)

Thank you. I'd like to direct that to Mr. Bancroft.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 143)

Thank you. So the vast majority of the corrections budget is associated with the correctional facilities. So that would be spent in those communities where those facilities exist. However, we do have probation officers in the Tlicho region. We're just looking for that information right now, to see how many there might be. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 143)

Thank you. I would love to see this in every single community in the Northwest Territories. I think that would be great if we had people that could, you know, assist clients in need everywhere. So thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 143)

Thank you. So those are there's definitely connections there. I know that the provider in Hay River who receives who had received funding under this has worked with those individuals who are in that world. But the initiatives like the Member is talking about would be undertaken by the RCMP as opposed to community justice necessarily. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 143)

Not to my knowledge. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 143)

I do.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 143)

Yes, we can do that. Thanks.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 143)

Thank you. So you know, what might happen in the future I can't say. While I'm not necessarily supportive of the idea of taking a siloed program, replicating it elsewhere and saying we're expanding, you know, integrated service delivery, so in that sense I would say no, we're not looking to duplicate this. However, there is a recognition that people do need that sort of one window access. And I've heard a lot about it, I've talked a lot about it, and so we are examining ways that we can make that happen outside of Yellowknife. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 143)

Thank you. So the Department of Justice rarely has any unspent funds. We have a couple large divisions or contracts that generally eat up all of our excess funds. So if I had excess funds to put into certain things, I would do that, but that's generally not the situation here with Justice. Thank you.