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 118)

Thank you, and I thank the Member for this very important question. The Taltson River flooding event resulted in significant damages to cabins out there, and we viewed applications individually to look at how best to support the applicants. So there is an exception to it, in that process there. We will again review application on casebycase basis and suggest that affected hunters and trappers reach out to their local ENR office. Again, just so the impacted people out there, please reach out to our regional offices. We're willing to work with you and, again, there will be exceptions that we...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 118)

In favour.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 118)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Before I answer that, I'd like to thank both the MLAs from Yellowknife and the Speaker for keeping constant contact to me as we watched the river break up there. I mean, it was devastating. And my condolences to the residents that have been impacted.

Mr. Speaker, ENR is currently conducting review of the current Hunters and Trappers Disasters Compensation Policy, including program criteria, eligibility, and scope of operational guidelines. This review will build on past experiences, including recent flooding events in a number of communities across the Northwest...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 118)

In favour.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 118)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document, NWT State of Environmental Report 2022. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 118)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we actually just hired our climate change specialist in the department. He has vast experience in climate change, and he is now in place with the department. In regards to the bolstering other staff, like, we've had our EMO staff; we've created five new positions; we have three positions at headquarters. So we're working on that.

With ENR and that department there, we've also worked on creating and finding positions that will help deal with this. We've bolstered some of our staff as the government across the Northwest Territories. So we are looking at where...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 118)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I said before, we work with the residents; we work with the communities. As well as we move up the river, we start working with the communities as well that have who weren't impacted so far this year. But we are working with them. We are seeing what there's some needs.

One of the questions that was proposed [sic] to me today was if a resident is impacted and we have to do some mitigation for them but the resident next door doesn't, what can we do with that. So we are going to reach out to the federal government. We're going to work with the communities...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 118)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The department participates in the GNWT open data initiative to increase government transparency and accountability while maintaining the government's responsibility towards privacy, security, and legal obligations.

So we are working on it. The Public Land Act, as the Member said, isn't in force because we're doing the public land regulations on that. So until that is done, we're not able to provide that information publicly. We are working on it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 118)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish I could give the Member and the public a confirmed date, but presently, we don't have that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 117)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I said earlier that we were working on this and it's just getting finalized with the deputy minister who will be sending it to our office. And once that is done, within probably 24 hours, we'll have that information out to the pathfinders, the MLAs that are affected which is, you know, Deh Cho, Hay River North, Hay River South. So we will make sure that they have that information to them as well as the pathfinders as well as the insurance companies that we have had reach out to us. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.