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 , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 110)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, for that detail, I would have asked the Member to give the question to me earlier, but I can try to explain it the best we can. So we do have and I believe there was a technical briefing provided by the Wek’eezhii Water and Resources Board with our staff. It committee, which was made public.

So we do have airlines or we charter aircrafts that we survey it. There's a longitudes and latitude checked. They check on the the the herd, the calves, and the cows and that in the Bathurst area. And that's how it's corrected or calculated.

So there is a map, and...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 110)

Hopefully I get the I got the message here. So to be clear, there has been no reduction in the survey. What happened in 2020, we had money in the budget to do the survey for the caribou, and then COVID hit. So then we've been playing catch up. The money that was here that we had in the budget for this year is going into the next years' budgets. We do the survey every two years. So we do the research. We work we bring in some of our Indigenous partners to go travelling with us as part of our survey group. So we do the survey.

The money was spent last year. The results are in this year. And so...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 110)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can't make that commitment. There's a process. There's a legal process. Once that process is done, then we can look at each matter moving forward. But right now, we have a process. We need to follow it. We're going through the justice system. And we ensure the meat's not wasted. It's given to other Indigenous governments so that the meat is not being wasted there.

I need to really stress, though, folks, is the herd size is 6,240. That's 1 percent of 1986. So in 1986, we had a huge population. Now we're at 1 percent, 6,240 caribou as from our survey. Thank you, Mr...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 110)

Okay, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we didn't reduce the scientific research funding. It was in 2020, we were doing the research; COVID hit; we weren't able to do the research. So we did it in 2021. So we moved that money from 2020 to 2021. In 2022, the money will be moved to 2023 because every second year, we will do the research on that.

As for the enforcement, all it is is that we've been asked by the Indigenous governments to add an additional camp, which we've done. We now have three camps there, so. And 24/7 to have staff there. So the Indigenous governments have asked us to make...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 110)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the flood of 2021 was extraordinary, and they caused lifealtering hardships for so many residents, families, and communities. I am very pleased to advise that the majority of these who were impacted are now in their homes.

I would like to acknowledge the commitment and effort of the local leadership in the floodedaffected communities. It has been nearly a year since the flooding took place, and during that time leaders have been carrying out the daytoday business of running the community government while also being shouldered with the aftermath of the flood...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 109)

Yeah, thank you. Yeah, so we've developed the tool. It has gone to the City of Yellowknife. They have it, approved it, and adapted it. We're working with them. When we talk to them about doing transfers of land, it's very specific to certain areas and certain things. So it's not one big bulk transfer. We were doing it working with them to do it I don't want to call it piecemeal but to do it as they feel comfortable taking on different tasks and what they need their land for.

We've also taken that very tool and given it to NWTAC and which will allow them to get feedback to their membership...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 109)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Gino Paul Kotchea was born on May 6th, 1978 to Frank Kotchea Sr. and Jeanie Fantase in Yellowknife. At the young age, his grandfather Harry ran him through some willows after the rain and after this his grandfather named Kaidday.

Gino spent many summers on the Liard River with his grandparents and shot his first moose at the age of 12. In the traditional way of the Dene, the meat was shared with elders in the community. Gino learned many skills from his Uncle Pete whom he called his brother. While at Whitefish River, Gino and his grandfather caught another...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 109)

That I can do. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 109)

Yes, the committee, they're the council sits and it's Indigenous leadership. It is a committee of theirs, and we work with that committee. It is not a sub part of, you know, government. It is a climate change council that we work with. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 109)

Yeah, so the mitigation there is very much the federal government's being the lead working with them, and I say when the lead, they've given us a lot of the money that we are dealing with it.

What our biggest challenge is right now is the adaptation. They don't like, they haven't even developed an adaptation national strategy on it. So we're trying to work with them. So we've been able to access money, whether it's from various departments that help with the mediation of this very difficult issue that's impacting us for numerous years. So, yeah, we are there is money there. We're working with...