Shane Thompson

Member Nahendeh

Speaker

Shane Thompson was re-elected to the 20th Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly after serving in the 18th and 19th Assemblies representing the constituency of Nahendeh. Mr. Thompson is the Honorable Speaker of the 20th Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly.

Mr. Thompson was first elected to the 18th Assembly in November 2015 and served as Chair of the Standing Committee on Social Development. Mr. Thompson was also a member of the Standing Committee on Priorities and Planning, the Standing Committee on Rules and Procedures, and the Striking Committee.

Mr. Thompson was born on July 11, 1963, in Hay River. He has lived in Kugluktuk (Coppermine), Inuvik, Hay River, and in Edmonton, while at the University of Alberta. Fort Simpson has been his home since 1992.

Mr. Thompson previously served two terms (three years each) as an elected official with the Fort Simpson District Education Authority, spending the last four years as the chairperson. Over the past 35 years, he has served on various community and territorial boards.

Mr. Thompson was employed as the Senior Sport and Recreation Coordinator with Municipal and Community Affairs (GNWT) in the Deh Cho region before being elected as a Member.

Mr. Thompson completed the Community Recreation Leaders Program at Arctic College in 1989 and is currently working on a Masters Certificate on Evaluation at the University of Victoria and Carleton University. He also completed three years towards an Education degree at the University of Alberta.

Mr. Thompson is an active volunteer with Northern Youth Aboard, CBET and Fundamental Movement, and HIGH FIVE®. As well, he is a past member of the Sport North Federation Board, NWT Softball and of NWTRPA, and the past president of Seven Spruce Golf Course.

Mr. Thompson is the father of seven children - five daughters and two sons – and has nine grandchildren.

He has been a Justice of the Peace since 1991.

Nahendeh Electoral District

Committees

Nahendeh
Member's Office

Yellowknife NT X1A 2L9
Canada

P.O. Box
1320
Email
Extension
11128
Constituency Office

9706-100th Street
Fort Simpson NT X0E 0N0
Canada

Phone

Statements in Debates

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 94)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my understanding of the 2014 report that the Member's talking about was jointly done with NWTAC. We're more than willing to work with them to go on there.

As for the inadequacies that the Member talks about, it's a budget process. We need to compete with other priorities for the Government of the Northwest Territories. The Member from Yellowknife North talked about $20 million for housing. Bam, let's give me $20 million for housing. Well, how do we take that compared to other issues? Housing is a priority. We've heard it in this House. But we have other...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 94)

Thank you. So the Member should be aware that my EAC is sending out emails that I get, and I send it to the Member right away. Whether we get them from the community, who are asking questions and that, when I send this stuff out there, the latest one was an issue about freeze up. We get that sent to the Member right away so she is aware of what's going on.

As for the formula, yes, it encompasses everything. Again, when we talk about the municipal funding formula, it was developed with NWTAC for the betterment of the territories, the 33 communities. So it's a formula that's used, and it counts...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 94)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and it's going to be a long answer on this one because I want to make sure we get the information out there.

In recent years, we have seen a decline in many caribou herds across the NWT and northern Canada. As you noted, the Bathurst herd declined from an estimated 47,000 in 1986 to 6,240 in 2021. At the time, we also saw a major decline in the BluenoseEast herd, declining from 120,000 in 2010 to 19,300 in 2018. The Beverly herd declined located to the east of the Bathurst herd was established at 103 in 2018. That's 103,000. And has been undergoing a slow decline in...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 94)

Thank you, and I apologize to the Member for the longwinded answer but it's very important we get this information out there.

So it's not what the herd is, it's the mobile zone. So the mobile zone is the area where the caribou are. Last year we had the overlap of the Beverly and the Bathurst and the Bluenose. And again, it's where we have our collared animals and that's where we know where our herds are. It's important to note that it's illegal to harvest any caribou in that mobile zone and regardless of the herd. And I think every Tuesday it's updated. So we make sure that information, so...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 94)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this transboundary agreement's one of the best ones in the world. We were very lucky in how we were able do it. And it is our standard moving forward with our transboundary agreements.

To ensure NWT interests are considered in decisionmaking on the oil sands monitoring, ENR made a request to the federal government and provincial governments for a seat on their joint oil sands oversight committee. We were waiting for a formal response from the federal government. The department has asked for it and received the work plans and requests for proposals to...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 94)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Member for the question. The department has been engaging with Indigenous governments and organizations for many years as part of the development and implementation of the TransMonitoring Water Agreement and the Water Stewardship Strategy. I've met with Indigenous leadership about the transboundary water agreement implementation and I've heard concerns from communities and residents about the proposed development regulations authorizing and the release of treated tailing water. ENR provides regular updates and seeks input from the NWT strategy Indigenous...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 94)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, demonstrating her strength of will, independence, and sass right to the end of her welllived 48 years, Sherri Lynn Thomson passed away Monday, December 6th.

Born in Yorkton September 15th, 1973, the third child of Graham and Linda's four children, Sherri spent her earliest years in southern Saskatchewan with her family before settling in 1977 on the PFRM farm.

Sherri developed a passion for hockey, participated in minor hockey programs, and from grade 10 to 12, played for the Fort Saskatchewan First Team culminating with a trip to the Canada Winter Games in...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 93)

I think there was about four questions in there, but I'll try to answer them all, and if I miss, I apologize.

So the first is the funding in regards to each community have their infrastructure. In 2007, the Municipal and Community Affairs came up with a new deal. The new deal, the money is allocated by a funding formula and so since 2007 to 2022, the department gave Behchoko, in the community public infrastructure money, of just over $15 million, the gas tax funding of just over $10 million. And communities make decisions. They make priorities. So they have to make decisions on what they think...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 93)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, with the 2022 Winter Olympics ending this past Sunday, like a lot of Canadians I spent a good part of my evenings watching various competition. It was amazing watching our Canadian athletes perform on the biggest stage.

As many are aware, Liam Gill represented Canada in the snowboarding halfpipe event. Liam is a proud descendant of a long line of Dene from the North and represent the Dehcho Dene as a member of Liidlii Kue First Nation. Upon hearing the news, I reached out his grandma to congratulate her on his accomplishment.

Like most Fort Simpson residents...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 93)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document: Follow-up letter to Oral Question 79819(2), land ownership issues in small communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.