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

Shane Thompson
Nahendeh
Member's Office

Yellowknife NT X1A 2L9
Canada

P.O. Box
1320
Constituency Office

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

Statements in Debates

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 50)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today the Minister of Housing presented a progress statement on NWT housing. So in one of her statements she goes on to talk about moving vacant units into three-bedroom four-plexes. Can the Minister please provide this House what communities she's looking at doing it? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 50)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, with great sadness, I announce the sudden and unexpected passing of a former colleague and dear friend, Chris Szabo, on January 18, 2017, in his home in the Nasksup, BC, at the age of 59.

Mr. Speaker, I had the opportunity to meet Chris in the spring of 1988 in Inuvik, then later in Cambridge Bay where he was the recreation coordinator. He spent almost three years in this job, until he became the senior development officer for the Kitikmeot region. Thanks to his leadership, he developed the Kitikmeot Recreation Association and connected the community...

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 49)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Minister for his commitment. I have heard a lot of stuff about the social work program in the last couple of weeks here and leading up to it. In regard to the social work program, can the Minister confirm that, once a student finishes this program, they can be hired by the department as a social worker? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 49)

I thank the Minister for his commitment on that. In regard to the social work program, we have heard about low enrolment in that. What has the government or the college done to find out why we are not having success? Has the government or the college actually done an assessment of it and found out why the students have not done that? I would like to ask the Minister if he can provide any information.

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 49)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Minister for his answer. Mr. Speaker, in speaking with the students, they are not feeling cared about by the college. In fact, they feel like they are not important, nor are the residents of the NWT. To make matters worse, the college and the department are agreeing to a $300 term increase, which works out to be $600 per year. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister advise if this is the way for the college to recover some of the shortfall the government is proposing on them in this year's budget process? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 49)

I would like to thank the Minister for his answer. Mr. Speaker, in my Member's statement I spoke about the message the college is giving the students. It was about aligning the GNWT expenditures to projected revenues, how GNWT departments have been tasked with identifying expenditure reductions. This sounds like a reduction exercise for the college. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister confirm this was the message that the department had given to them as they started their budget exercise?

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 49)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank my colleagues for allowing me to finish my statement. By $300 for this term in 2018-19. Mr. Speaker, I find it very interesting that the college is taking more funds from the students' SFA to cover the costs. To me, it's taking money from Peter to pay Paul. This is very disappointing, to say the least.

Mr. Speaker, the e-mail goes on to say:

In these difficult economic and changing labour market requirements, we have had to re-examine the way we do business in order to set Aurora College up for long-term stability and success. To assist us in moving forward...

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 49)

I thank the Minister for his answer. I guess this leads to my next question. Will the college be willing to share with us over here the results of this study or this evaluation, so we can look at the programs, so we can make an informed decision?

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 49)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today in the House I asked some questions about a mandate letter from the government to the college. Will the Minister commit to this House that he will actually show us what this mandate letter was? We have seen other deputy ministers' mandate letters, but we haven't seen the Aurora College one. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 49)

I would like to thank the Minister for his answer. Mr. Speaker, on Friday the Minister spoke about how the college has autonomy to make their own decisions and where they are looking at moving forward with the programs that they provide. As well, the Minister spoke about the fact that the board of governors received a mandate letter, and it was reflective of our own strategic plan moving forward. With this information, can the Minister please explain how the college has autonomy when they are given a mandate letter from the department?