R.J. Simpson

Member Hay River North

Premier
Minister of Executive and Indigenous Affairs

R.J. Simpson was elected to the 20th Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly, representing the constituency of Hay River North. On December 7th, 2023, Mr. Simpson was elected Premier of the Northwest Territories.

Mr. Simpson was formerly acclaimed to the 19th Legislative Assembly and first elected into the 18th Assembly in 2015.

Mr. Simpson was Deputy Speaker of the 18th Assembly, Deputy Chair of the Standing Committee on Government Operations, and the Chair of the Special Committee on Transition Matters. Mr. Simpson was also a member of the Standing Committee on Priorities and Planning and the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Environment.

Mr. Simpson is a lifelong resident of Hay River After graduating from Diamond Jenness Secondary School in 1998 Mr. Simpson went on to obtain a Bachelor of Arts from MacEwan University and a law degree from the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Law.

Mr. Simpson has previously worked with the Government of Canada, Northern Transportation Company Ltd, Métis Nation Local 51, and Maskwa Engineering.

While at law school, Mr. Simpson was the President of the Aboriginal Law Students’ Association. He has also served on the board of the Soaring Eagle Friendship Centre in Hay River and volunteered with the Canada-Ghana Education Project.

Hay River North Electoral District

Committees

R.J. Simpson
Hay River North
Member's Office

Yellowknife NT X1A 2L9
Canada

P.O. Box
1320
Email
Extension
11120
Constituency Office

62, promenade Woodland, bureau 104
Hay River Nord NT X0E 1G1
Canada

Phone
Minister
Email
Premier of the Northwest Territories, Minister of Executive and Indigenous Affairs, Minister of Justice, Government House Leader

Statements in Debates

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 3rd Session (day 7)

Thank you. There is a motion to report progress. All those in favour? All those opposed? The motion is carried.

---Carried

I will now rise and report progress.

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 3rd Session (day 7)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This all sounds great, and, to be honest, I am not even sure who I am talking to right now, if it is the Minister of ITI or the Minister of Infrastructure. I do not know who is the lead on this. I hope they get this information out there for public consumption. My last question is: how many people will be put through this institution? How many people will be trained per year or per season, or whatever the measure may be? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 3rd Session (day 7)

The Minister is right. This is good news for Hay River, so I'm surprised there wasn't a bit of hoopla about it.

I want to talk about the cost of training. Since the GNWT employs only a handful of people at MTS and the rest are contracted out, I wonder who will pay for these employees who are employed by the contractor, if it's going to have to come out of the employee's own pocket. Then, there are the fishermen. Will the training be through the revitalization strategy? There are a lot of questions. Considering all of that, what will the costs of training be, and who will pay for the training?

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 3rd Session (day 7)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we MLAs from Hay River have a tradition, a tradition that started three Assemblies ago, and I'm truly honoured to be a part of it. I speak, of course, of the tradition of standing up in this House every four years and congratulating Hay River's own Brendan Green for making the Canadian Olympic biathlon team. This is the third consecutive time that Mr. Green will represent Team Canada at the Winter Olympics, which opened this morning in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Mr. Speaker, this is a monumental achievement and cements Mr. Green's legacy as one of Canada's...

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 3rd Session (day 7)

Mr. Speaker, your committee has been considering Minister's Statement 1-18(3), North Slave Correctional Complex Inmate Concerns; Minister's Statement 19-18(3), Aurora College Foundational Review Process; Tabled Document 63-18(3), Main Estimates, 2018-2019. I would like to report progress and, Mr. Speaker, I move that the report of the Committee of the Whole be concurred with.

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 3rd Session (day 7)

I will now call the Committee of the Whole to order, and before I ask the wish of committee, I just want to thank all the Pages who have been here this week. Thank you for all your hard work. Mr. Beaulieu, what is the wish of committee?

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 3rd Session (day 7)

Now, let's talk jobs. It is what everyone is talking about. How many people will be employed by this institute and, more importantly, how many of those positions will be local in Hay River?

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 3rd Session (day 7)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On February 2nd Transport Canada announced that the Nunavut Fisheries and Marine Training Consortium will establish a marine training facility in Hay River through partnership with the GNWT. Apparently, this is part of a three-year $12.6 million federal investment under the Oceans Protection Plan. Mr. Speaker, I usually know what's happening in my backyard, but I haven't received any communication about this initiative. It's news to me. I just learned about it when the Minister of Infrastructure responded to questions about MTS earlier this week. I don't know where this...

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 3rd Session (day 6)

Mr. Speaker, your committee has been considering Member's Statement 1-18(3), North Slave Correctional Complex Inmate Concerns, and we would like to report progress; and, Mr. Speaker, I move that the report of the Committee of the Whole be concurred with.

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 3rd Session (day 6)

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. There is a motion to report progress. All those in favour? All those opposed?

---Carried