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

Question 1241-19(2): Crime
Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 127)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That's a big question. I'll do my best to keep my answers short.

So the most recent information we have is from the 2021 calendar year, and that shows us actually a decrease in crime during that time. The total crime rate went down by 3 percent in the Northwest Territories driven by a reduction in robbery, a 21 percent decrease in drug offences, as well as a 7 percent decrease in sexual assault offences. On the other side, we saw an increase in assaults and breaking and entering. But that's 2021, and I know the Member there's issues going on right now in his community...

Question 1247-19(2): Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Legislation
Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 127)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The next steps would be ensuring that the information provided through the public engagement is analyzed. That will then be used to develop a legislative proposal and then the process that follows is that legislative proposal goes to standing committee, comes to Cabinet, the bill is drafted, and hopefully introduced in the winter sitting. Thank you.

Question 1247-19(2): Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Legislation
Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 127)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And that's correct, between June 16th and July 25th of this year, the Department of Justice held public engagement. So the engagement consisted of an unanimous online survey that asked residents a number of questions related to missing persons legislation. The department also sent letters directly to Indigenous governments, mayors, the RCMP, and various other partners and stakeholders to invite them to participate in the survey. We received 81 responses. Most questions or most had a strong consensus. While many residents agreed that law enforcement should be able to...

Question 1241-19(2): Crime
Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 127)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And the Department of Justice attends a number of different federal, territorial, and provincial meetings at various levels. So I've recently attended a meeting with the ministers for public safety and ministers of justice across Canada, and these are the types of issues that we discussed, and I will say what the issues that are being raised here are also being raised across Canada. So this is not a territory issue alone.

There is work in different jurisdictions to look at policing and how police services could be improved. There's been recent talk about Alberta moving...

Question 1241-19(2): Crime
Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 127)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and this speaks to the Member's last question as well. Most of the people who are in the correctional system in the Northwest Territories are there on remand, meaning they have not yet been sentenced.

In the 2010s, there were a number of Supreme Court of Canada cases that spoke to bail and, you know, what was needed in order to detain someone versus to release them. The Government of Canada, in 2019, codified some of that language or those decisions. And now the release of accused persons is the cardinal rule and detention is an exception. So the Criminal Code of Canada...

Question 1228-19(2): Polytechnic University
Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 126)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And of course I don't speak for the college. This House passed changes to amendments to the Aurora College Act which has significantly changed my role in relation to the college.

So the college has adopted the term "administrative centre" to acknowledge that the staff who support corporate administrative functions of the college are in Fort Smith. So that is why they're using that term. It's a term that's commonly used in postsecondary environments. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 126)

Thank you. Perhaps for some detail on that, I can hand it to Mr. Shannon.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 126)

I'd like to hand that to the assistant deputy minister, Mr. Shannon. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 126)

Yes, that is covered in the new capital standards as well as when we do retrofits. So when we go in say a bathroom is in need of repair and we repair it, we also use that lens as well. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 126)

Thank you. And the way this planning for capital works is that the department gathers up all of the different wants from the different school boards as well as information about the state of all the different capital assets from the Department of Infrastructure, and then we make assessments as to what can be done with a budget. And we sometimes have enough for a new school or a retrofit as well as a few a couple small capital projects. And the things the Member's referencing accessibility, ensuring older schools are accessible those are my priority for when I look at the smaller capital...