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 85)

You want me to do it again? Deputy Minister Laura Gareau.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 85)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The only person that can speak for the Government of the Northwest Territories is the Premier. What I can say, though, from ENR's perspective, yes, we want to work with our Indigenous governments. We need their input to move forward. It's very much about engaging and consultation with our Indigenous governments. So if he wants an government overall approach, he needs to ask that question to the Premier. But from ENR's perspective, we think participants need to work together we need to get money to work for it to address our issues. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 83)

I'd like to thank the Member for asking these questions. I think these are questions I asked weekly with the staff on it.

So the status is basically we've been working on it. For the homes that we're able to repair, we're hoping to having everything as of December 17th. For the ones that may or may not be back into their home, we brought in a camp. So we have two camps. One for the Elders, and one for the family. When we were asking the community about getting a camp in there, we gave them some options. They provided the option -- they selected the options, and that's why the camp we have set...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 83)

Thank you. First of all, I'd like to thank the Member for touring my riding. It was greatly appreciated. And the community of Jean Marie greatly appreciated him stopping in to sit there. I also have to give a shout out to the Member from Hay River South. He was very much involved in that as well.

So in regards to how much money we spent right now, presently, as of September 30th -- sorry, I just had a mental block there -- we spent $1.7 million for the flood recovery for activities in there. We are projecting that the total for the 2021-2022 fiscal year, we'll spend approximately about $6...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 83)

Thank you. From the Municipal and Community Affairs side, with the bylaws, we would be more than willing to come with the municipal governments to come up with the bylaws that they need to do that. If it's something to do with lands, more than willing to work with the municipal governments, the Tlicho government, moving forward.

Again, I appreciate the Member asking these questions. And she's been very true to her word. She's been asking the questions numerous times, and I appreciate that. And all we need to do is work together to help solve that issue. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 83)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that there is not a Municipal and Community Affairs issue. I think that's very much about wills, about working with the justice system. But if the Member is talking about land transfer and that, that there is very much about a municipal government.

It's been very confusing, and I thank the Member. She's hit me a few times with this question, and I greatly appreciate it. It's trying to understand how it works in the Tlicho government, but it is my understanding land belongs to -- or is looked after by the Tlicho government, whether it's Behchoko, Gameti...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 83)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as we move forward and as we learn from our experiences with this COVID issue, the biggest thing is that in my communications with leadership and that is for their SAO to reach out to our superintendent. Reach out to them. We're willing to work if there's some challenges or concerns that community have, then we can work with them.

We are trying to help as best we can, getting clarity where we're doing things. But the biggest thing I have to say is get the leadership to get their SAO to reach out to our superintendent, because they can work together. They've...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 83)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Member for the question. Before I answer the question, I'd like to thank the leadership from Tuk. I had numerous phone calls, as well as the Minister from Health and the Premier. They worked very hard. I know there was numerous phone calls. Also, I'd like to thank the SAO from the community and the regional superintendent for Municipal and Community Affairs.

In regards to the question that the Member asked, so in regards, the community received over -- well, received $213,506 through three payments as COVID started in the territories. So we were able to...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 83)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we've been working with the residents. Some people want their homes to be raised. We're able to do that. Some of them have actually looked at potentially moving to another location. And with the homes that we are replacing, we're making sure that we can lift them up and move them should they wish to move to another location in the town.

Very much the community wants to stay close to the river. We have some locations that we're working with them. But we've also made a commitment to work with them to come up with a plan, a community plan, based on their needs...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 83)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm going to answer the last part of the question first, and then we'll go from there.

So when the flood hit, the leadership from the department and local governments from Hay River and Yellowknife provided bottled water to the community. So we were bringing in bottled water to help address that issue. Then as the ferry was kicked in in Fort Simpson and people were moved back into their homes, or they were still in their homes that weren't impacted by the floods, we were bringing the water from Fort Simpson, the water truck.

Now we continue to do that. In July and August...