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 , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 48)

I would like to thank Ms. Cleary for the opening and blessing today.

Colleagues, before we get into our daily business, we have a bunch of Grade 5 and 6 students from Weledeh Catholic School. We'll behave ourselves really well, so these young people will say they want to be here in this House in 10, 15 years. So thank you very much for coming and attending.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 47)

Colleagues, today I found out I'm now a senior. Today, I'd like to recognize Mr. Roger Pilling on being selected as the 2024 elder volunteer. He moved to Fort Simpson in February 1988 from Fort Reliance where he was a weather observer for 18 months. Roger quickly became part of the community joining the curling club right away, then the slo-pitch league in the summer, then the Fort Simpson fire department in February 1989.

I had the opportunity to meet Roger in Fort Simpson at a ball tournament in the summer of 1991 and in Hay River in 1992 while my team from Coppermine was participating in the...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 47)

Please sit. I'd like to thank Ms. Gargan for the reflections today.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 46)

Please be seated. Thank you, Mr. Lafferty, for the opening prayer and reflections.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 45)

I'd like to thank Bertha Catholique for the opening prayer and reflections today.

Colleagues, before we start the day, there's a couple things I'd like to stress. Remember, we have the dignity to be able to speak in this House but make sure we do not bring other people's names into this place or businesses because they don't have the right to defend themselves. We do have some autonomy here but make sure we have the information that we say in this House that it's very clear and as truthful as we can be so that we don't impugn integrity of that.

The second thing is on Friday somebody scheduled it...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 45)

Colleagues, this past summer, the Deh Cho First Nations celebrated its (audio) the 15th. I had the honour of being invited to the Assembly. It was great to see them work together in how they included youth and elders with the leadership and decision-making. I can tell you the 30th Assembly for the Deh Cho Nation marks a significant milestone in its journey of Indigenous self-governance and cultural resurgence in Canada. Established in 1990, the First Nation -- Deh Cho First Nation represented a collective of ten communities in the Deh Cho region of the Northwest Territories, each with its...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 44)

Good afternoon, Colleagues. Please join me in thanking Elder Shirley Elias for the opening song today.

Colleagues, before we begin today, I would like to take a moment to thank the grade 1 and two students from Itlo Ecole who visited us earlier today. As a part of Indigenous languages month, these students were here to sing a special rendition of I love you, in Wiliideh dialect, dedicated to our incredible interpreters. It was wonderful to see these young people and hear their beautiful voices early this morning.

The students were gifted a book from our Inuktitut interpreter Susie Napayk-Short...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 44)

Good afternoon, Colleagues. This is a statement I prepared for last fall session, but I didn't get a chance to do it.

Last summer, some of you had the opportunity to see various hand game tournaments across the NWT and are happening now. As some of you know, it is amazing to watch. You can feel the energy and excitement in the venue. The hand games were played years ago as a form of gambling among friends and different groups. Often the games were played to gamble for bullets, furs, dogs, toboggans, or match sticks. Today, hand games are played in cultural centres, gyms, community halls or...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 43)

Please be seated. Thank you. I'd like to thank Elder Lafferty for the opening prayer and reflections.

Colleagues, before we get into our business today, we have some special guests up in our audience, the 2025 Ontario Legislature Internship Program participants. And some of you had the opportunity to meet with them, and these are pretty amazing young people that have given us this opportunity to come here and see our great government work, how consensus government works. So I'd like to recognize them, and if I butcher their names -- I told them on Monday and I said it on Tuesday, I apologize...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 43)

Good afternoon, Colleagues. Today, I am going to recognize another long serving member of the public service, Mr. Gary Schauerte. Some of you have known him as the younger brother of Doug Schauerte, a former clerk of this House. I realize that I am not going to get everything said in the next two and half minutes about him so I'm just going to start.

Gary started his career with the GNWT way back in 1987 where he worked for the department of personnel for the summer.

In true Gary fashion, he had a goal to work for Municipal and Community Affairs sport and recreation division, and his pursuit of...