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 15)

The North Slave, what does that consist of? What communities? When he's talking about this for the North Slave, what communities are being served? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 15)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I want to talk about change. As I was doing this statement, I went to the Webster's Dictionary to find the simplest definition of change: “to become different; to make someone or something different; to become something else.” Last October, the country of Canada wanted change and so did the people of the NWT. Change did happen. People in the Northwest Territories elected 11 new Members and eight returning Members to the Legislative Assembly in hopes that change will occur for the betterment of the NWT. Mr. Speaker, two candidates running for the...

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 15)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. First thing in regards to the minority language education, second language, instruction, French, I heard the Minister say it was federal funding. Is this a cost share or is it 100 per cent funded by the federal government. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 15)

In regards to a notice of reduction in some of the positions, are these part of the reduction plans, or is it stuff that was something that you guys planned on doing before?

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 15)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I thank the Minister and the department for doing this. I guess I am still struggling with the amount of money. It is only an increase of $105,000 if my calculations are correct, from the mains revised from last time. To me, it is important. I think we need to be doing it. It is probably one of our struggles and why we have some challenges in meeting national standards in our education. Are you guys going to be monitoring this and seeing if there is going to be a need for increase with the PSTs and actually go on a needs basis? What I mean by that is: do some research in...

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 15)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I thank the Minister for the answer but still at the end of the day, if people in our smaller communities can't access these funds and one of the hindrance is the reporting. Can you not work with the federal government and make sure they understand this so that we can try to get these people in the smaller communities to be able to access this program? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 15)

I thank the Minister for his answer, but I regretfully disagree. Like, I mean, at no point in time was I aware that these positions were going to be cut. Anything we receive from the finance department was in there. I guess I'll be more diligent in listening and looking at business plans from now on. I'm a little bit disappointed, you know, right now I've lost 1.5 positions in my riding, and two from this department or one full-time position if you look at the two halves. I didn't see it anywhere and I apologize. I guess I must apologize to my riding, because if I've missed it, it's something...

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 15)

Obviously, when we go through it, it is our biggest budget, working with organizations in terms of what they have spent in the last year, and then what we think they will be spending. A lot of things are taken into consideration: forced growth, the reductions, but we do consult with our education authorities as well as other organizations that we do fund, and that is how we usually come to our budget. We do have a fixed number and all our educational authorities when they are working out their budgets, they got to try to make sure they get within the fixed budget. I will go to my deputy...

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 15)

What about the people that have disabilities, are not employed and don't know about this? How do we get the message to them? Because I've heard from the Minister and the deputy ministers that they don't access the program. We've still lots of money still left over at the end of the day, so how do we get the message to these people that have disabilities that can access this program? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 15)

Just to clarify. This position's moved into North Slave, which is a Yellowknife office, correct? Thank you, Mr. Chair.