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

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

Yellowknife NT X1A 2L9
Canada

P.O. Box
1320
Email
Email
Phone
867-767-9141
Extension
11120
Constituency Office

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

Phone
867-874-6301
Minister
Email
Email
Premier of the Northwest Territories, Minister of Executive and Indigenous Affairs, Minister of Justice, Government House Leader

Statements in Debates

Committee Motion 26-18(3): Tabled Document 63-18(3): Main Estimates 2018-2019 - Education, Culture and Employment - Deferral of Further Consideration of the Estimates for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, Carried
Debates of , 18th Assembly, 3rd Session (day 8)

Thank you, Premier. Will the SergeantatArms please escort the witnesses into the Chamber. Premier, would you please introduce your witnesses for the record.

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 3rd Session (day 8)

I will now call Committee of the Whole to order. What is the wish of committee? Mr. Beaulieu.

Committee Motion 26-18(3): Tabled Document 63-18(3): Main Estimates 2018-2019 - Education, Culture and Employment - Deferral of Further Consideration of the Estimates for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, Carried
Debates of , 18th Assembly, 3rd Session (day 8)

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. There is a motion to defer. The motion is in order and non-debatable. The motion is currently being distributed. All those in favour? All those opposed? The motion is carried.

---Carried

We will defer consideration of the Department of Education, Culture and Employment. Thank you to the witnesses. SergeantatArms, you may escort the witnesses from the Chamber.

Committee, we have decided to next consider the Department of Executive and Indigenous Affairs. I will turn to the Minister of the department, Premier McLeod, for any comments that he may have. Premier.

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 3rd Session (day 8)

Thank you, Mr. Blake. Further general comments on the Department of Education, Culture and Employment? Seeing none, as we've discussed, the Minister will have 10 minutes to respond, keeping in mind that as we go through the detail of this document, there will be plenty of time to respond to more detailed concerns that the Members have. Minister Moses, you have 10 minutes.

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 3rd Session (day 8)

Thank you, Mr. Testart. Running the clock. Next, I have Mr. Beaulieu.

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 3rd Session (day 8)

Mr. Speaker, your committee has been considering Tabled Document 63-18(3), Main Estimates 2018-2019. I would like to report progress with two motions being adopted, 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)

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.

Question 78-18(3): Marine Training Institute
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.

Question 78-18(3): Marine Training Institute
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?

Member's Statement on Canadian Olympic Athlete Brendan Green
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...