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

Shane Thompson
Nahendeh
Member's Office

Yellowknife NT X1A 2L9
Canada

P.O. Box
1320
Email
Phone
Extension
12005
Constituency Office

9706-100th Street
Fort Simpson NT X0E 0N0
Canada

Phone

Statements in Debates

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 78)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The NWT Climate Change Council was established in March 2021 and so they have been having meetings. Part of the development of this council is panels, and we do have a panel for youth and we are trying to getting them engaged. This summer, ENR has some opportunities for youth to be involved. But other youth have had the opportunity to reach out to me, and I've had the opportunity to meet with them. In my former life, youth were important. I always say our foundation of our elders and our future is our youth. So I'm more than willing to meet with them. We do have the...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 78)

So thank you. No, we didn't go out and engage with our Indigenous elders and that to get the freezer. We are trying to make  have a place where we can keep the evidence within  so it doesn't melt, it doesn't get destroyed, and we can  after the court case, then we give it out. It's not years. It's not a year. It's within a timeframe that we have the court system and we need to follow the court system. And what we found, just recently in our last court case that went in there, basically we were told we had to give back two caribou. Two caribou exactly. We had a caribou that was missing a part...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 78)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this required a lot of details and I thank the Member for giving us advance notice on it so it's going to be a little bit longer but I need to share this important information.

The 2030 Climate Change Strategic Framework in the 20192023 action plan were developed collaboratively with Indigenous governments and organizations and other partners in NWT after extensive engagement. As reported in the annual report released early this year, the GNWT and our partners are making a lot of progress in implementing the action identified in the 20192023 action plan.

I...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 78)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the GNWT is aware of these cases. The Department of ENR follows the shifts in climate change best practice and legal actions as part of their comprehensive approach to addressing climate change. Youth have a particularly important role and stake in climate change. As we all say, that's our future. At the people are going to be looking after this  looking after us and our planet.

ENR continues to take active advantage of and providing opportunity to youth involvement, including the youth advisor group and youth gathering. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 77)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On Saturday May 8th, as I was sitting in my living room, we heard the siren that we did not want to hear. It was the siren to advise residents it was time to evacuate the island as the water level had reached the 15meter mark. At this point in time, the community called a local state of emergency and kicked in the plan. As residents started leaving the island, the fire department and volunteers started going door to door to see who was going to leave and who was going to stay.

Mr. Speaker, we saw more than 400 residents pack up their necessities and move to the mainland...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 76)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, wildfire season is here, and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, or ENR, and our dedicated fire management team are ready.

Today I'd like to provide an update on what ENR has done to get ready for the 2021 fire season and the role residents and communities across the Northwest Territories have in preventing wildfires.

Mr. Speaker, preparation for the wildfire season begins with people. To that end, we have made sure that we have welltrained and wellprepared staff and contractors in place to respond to wildfires across every region and that...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 76)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I guess my colleague's not going to like my answer. No, we're not going to invoke the dispute process right now. We're not going to do that. I totally agree that the federal government needs to pay for their fair share. And we're working on that right now. So if it's working and we're moving forward, then why would you invoke this process? So I cannot in good conscience invoke something that's not going to help the process. That, to me, is our last resort, and that's what we need to do. So I understand the passion of the Member. And I'm hoping that within a year's...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 76)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's not a bad movie. We're trying to actually move forward. So I keep on saying we're moving forward, and we're making progress. So a dispute mechanism is when we're not get moving forward. It may be not at the speed that the Member wants or I would want but we have a process in place that involves the GNWT, the Government of Canada, and Indigenous governments working together trying to get it resolved. And the challenge that we've seen right now is Section 35. We've seen some hiccups. Now we're trying to deal with that. And like I said previously, the federal...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 76)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That's kind of a twoset question there. So I'm going to try to do the first one and maybe answer the second one there.

So the first part is the Department of Lands is working with the Tlicho Government and the Government of Canada to establish a land use planning process for Wek'èezhìi. Terms of reference for the planning process is completed but is not yet approved due to issues related that were raised through the government as part of our Section 35 process.

The Department of Lands is working with the Government of Canada, Indigenous governments to determine a path...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 76)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, on Friday, May 7th, residents in Jean Marie were watching the river rise as Chief and Council initiated their Local Emergency. At 6:30 p.m., the first siren sounded advising the residents to start moving to higher ground. As residents rushed home to finish packing up the necessaries and getting ready to leave their home, the second siren sounded. This happened very quickly, and residents witnessed the water steadily climb and flow over the road that leads out of town.

In speaking with some residents afterwards, they said it was very scary because they did...