R.J. Simpson: Sessional Statement

Check against delivery.

Mr. Speaker, the 20th Legislative Assembly is nearing its midpoint a natural time to reflect, recalibrate, and refocus.

Over the past year and a half, we have worked hard to build the foundation for what lies ahead. We have established strong working relationships across the House, set shared priorities, and begun the important and essential work of implementing the commitments in our mandate. These early steps were about alignment ensuring that the work of government reflects the realities, needs, and aspirations of Northerners.

The challenges before us are significant. Climate emergencies are becoming more frequent and more destructive. The rising cost of living continues to strain families, businesses, and government fiscal capacity. Our health and social services system is under pressure. As both a public health and public safety issue, communities are at risk of drug and gang activity, compromising the safety of residents and families. The housing and infrastructure deficits in our territory remain one of the greatest barriers to long-term growth and resilience.

But Mr. Speaker, we are not standing still. We have made deliberate decisions to position this government to act, and to deliver. Earlier this spring, we implemented a series of strategic changes to Cabinet portfolios and senior management. These adjustments were designed not only to rebalance workloads, but to strengthen alignment between political leadership and the work we have been asked to carry forward. These were not just routine changes; they were about putting the right people in the right roles to get results.

We have also worked to strengthen collaboration with Regular Members. The newly created Small and Remote Communities Committee-of-Cabinet will bring the perspectives from small community MLAs directly into the Cabinet decision-making process. This collaboration will make our work stronger and more responsive to the needs of all residents.

Mr. Speaker, the groundwork has been laid. Our direction is clear, and the work to deliver on the Mandate of the Government of the Northwest Territories is moving forward with purpose.

In our health care system, we are taking focused steps to fix what is not working and strengthen what is, with the goal of ensuring healthy people and communities across the territory.

Through the Health Care System Sustainability Unit, we have launched a territory-wide review of programs and services; one that looks not just at what is being delivered, but at how it is being delivered, what it costs, and how we can do better. This is foundational work. It is the first time we have attempted to build a comprehensive inventory of health and social services across the territory, along with historical spending trends. This will help us identify pressure points, inefficiencies, and opportunities for change, and will inform the decisions we make in the months and years ahead.

At Stanton Territorial Hospital, a new emergency department staffing model is being rolled out to improve coverage, reduce burnout, and create a more stable work environment for physicians. The model was co-designed with frontline staff and introduces additional dedicated physician shifts to improve flexibility and care. This will help with recruitment as well as retention, and we expect to see real benefits for both staff and patients.

Mr. Speaker, in December 2024, we appointed a Public Administrator to help address the evolving and complex needs of the current health and social services system. The Public Administrator has released his work plan, focused on improving day-to-day operations across the system. That work starts with things like scheduling, staff support, and accountability for frontline management. These are things that may not make headlines, but they are critical. They help keep services running, reduce turnover, and ensure that our health and social services system remains focused on care.

One of the more exciting long-term projects is focused on integrated service delivery, through the Governance and Service Integration Unit. The Governance and Service Integration Unit steers the GNWT’s efforts to improve person-centred service delivery across the NWT. With an initial focus on homelessness and family preservation, the Unit will establish five regional integrated service delivery sites in Yellowknife, Fort Simpson, Inuvik, Hay River, and Behchokǫ̀. Teams in these communities will coordinate support services across sectors such as housing, mental health, income assistance, and child and family services. Central to this work is wraparound training offered to the GNWT, Indigenous governments, and Non-Governmental Organizations, designed to create collaborative, holistic support plans for individuals with complex needs.

The new Governance and Service Integration Unit also plays a key coordinating role in anti-poverty and food security initiatives and leads the GNWT’s response to strengthening the non-profit and charitable sector. Its work is supported by approximately $5.7 million in federal funding through 2028, including funding from Public Safety Canada, Gender-Based Violence, and Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada. Additionally, the Unit manages the Anti-Poverty Fund and the Non-Government Organization Stabilization Fund, supporting community-based solutions and building capacity across the non-profit sector. Engagement, partnership and breaking down barriers are the core of the Governance and Service Integration Unit’s mission to improve access to services and outcomes for residents across the territory.

Mr. Speaker, we continue to deliver more homes for Northerners. Since the start of this Legislative Assembly, 81 new units have been completed, with 211 more underway or in the planning stages; including new incremental public housing units, seniors’ duplexes and replacement units tailored to local needs across the territory. Over the life of this government, we are planning to deliver a total of 292 new housing units across the territory. 

In Yellowknife, two new transitional housing projects are moving forward. One, a partnership with the Salvation Army, will soon open its doors to support individuals in their addiction recovery. A similar facility is expected to open in Inuvik later this year.

The second project is a temporary transitional housing facility near the Yellowknife airport that will provide supportive housing for up to 25 individuals experiencing homelessness. With on-site staff, wraparound supports, and a focus on safety and healing, it will help bridge the gap between emergency shelters and longer-term housing options. This, and other similar projects, help with our goals to break down barriers and build trust with vulnerable populations. 

This spring, construction is beginning on a number of additional units, including a 50-unit mass timber building in Yellowknife and a hybrid modular-stick build in Délı̨nę. These projects reflect both innovation and a community-driven approach.

Mr. Speaker, Local Housing Organizations remain essential partners in this work; supporting tenant safety and day-to-day operations in our communities. Through collaboration with Regular Members, an additional $41.6 million has been committed to Housing NWT this year, bringing total planned investment to more than $50 million.

This work is about more than buildings. It is about stability, health, and opportunity; and we are moving it forward with urgency and partnership.

Mr. Speaker, floods and wildfires are no longer rare events in the Northwest Territories. They have become a regular part of life for many communities and their impacts are being felt more often, and more severely, each year. We have been taking decisive steps to ensure we are ready for emergencies.

To help us strengthen our emergency preparedness and response, two independent reviews were launched following 2023’s wildfire season; one focused on wildfire management and the other on broader emergency operations, including evacuations and public safety.

Earlier this month, we received the broader After-Action Review focused on emergency management and community evacuations. It provides a detailed assessment of what worked and what did not, and identifies clear opportunities to improve coordination, communication, and readiness. A formal response to the After-Action Review will be tabled later this year, but operational improvements are already being made.

We updated the NWT Emergency Plan by clarifying roles and responsibilities to ensure that emergency agencies, Indigenous governments, and the territorial government can work together in a coordinated and collaborative fashion from the outset of an emergency.                We launched new training to support incident command capacity, relaunched the “Be Ready” campaign to support community-level preparedness, and we’re offering “Fire Smarting” assessments across the territory. This is about continuous learning and continuous improvement and making sure that, when the next emergency comes, we are better equipped to respond.

We are also supporting climate resilience in the NWT’s four coastal communities, Tuktoyaktuk, Paulatuk, Sachs Harbour and Ulukhaktok, in partnership with Natural Resources Canada’s Climate-Resilient Coastal Communities program.

These four communities face growing risks from coastal erosion, sea level rise, storm surges and permafrost thaw due to climate change. The funding includes more than $12 million for 13 projects in the North and across Canada to help communities develop and implement their own climate adaptation measures, including planned relocation efforts. We will work with community governments to ensure strategies are community-led, practical and support long-term climate resilience.

In this environment of growing uncertainty and rapid change, another serious threat continues to develop, not just in the NWT but internationally: the rise of drug trafficking and substance use. Social isolation, lack of opportunities, and limited access to services, often exacerbated by climate-driven disruptions, have made some communities more susceptible to the harmful impacts of drugs and organized crime. In response, protecting community safety has become not just a matter of policing, but a critical part of building resilience. 

As this issue continues to grow, we and our partners have adapted our response, education and supports to make sure we have safe communities for Northerners and support for healing. Our efforts focus on community-based programs, harm reduction, enforcement, and restorative justice.

The Department of Health and Social Services works with schools, Non-Government Organizations, and community organizations to deliver prevention education on the risks of drug use, safe consumption messaging and access to mental health supports, as well as providing harm reduction initiatives such as access to Naloxone kits to treat opioid overdoses.

For community members dealing with addictions and trauma, the Mental Wellness and Addictions Recovery fund offers $3 million a year to communities, Indigenous governments and Indigenous organizations for community-based programming tailored to cultural and local needs and land-based healing initiatives that include traditional knowledge and practices. Facility-based addictions treatment is also available to help residents access treatment outside the territory if needed; as well as dedicated aftercare, including counseling and peer support for people returning from treatment.

Through the RCMP and the Department of Justice, the GNWT actively supports drug enforcement efforts. This past February, the RCMP executed the largest drug and cash seizure in NWT history, confiscating nearly five kilograms of cocaine, and over $360,000 in cash. This operation significantly disrupted criminal networks operating in the territory.                                 We established a Territorial Crime Reduction Unit, deployed the first full-time Emergency Response Team in the NWT, and are developing new legislation to empower law enforcement to shut down drug houses, seize assets from traffickers, and continue to disrupt the drug networks to protect communities and keep residents safe in their own homes.  We will also continue to work across jurisdictions both within the territory and nationally to fight the problem.

Mr. Speaker, we know that long-term prosperity and resilience in the Northwest Territories depend on getting infrastructure right and on working with Indigenous governments and Canada to make meaningful progress.

That is why we continue to advance major projects like the Mackenzie Valley Highway, the Taltson Hydroelectric Expansion, and the Slave Geological Province Corridor. These are long-term investments in connectivity, energy security, and economic development, that will create new opportunities for Northerners and are critical to strengthening the North’s role as a pivotal point in Canada’s future.

To help drive this work forward, we have created a new Ministerial portfolio focused on strategic infrastructure, energy and supply chains. The partnerships behind these nation-building projects, including with Indigenous governments and the federal government, remain central to our approach, and we continue to advocate strongly for the funding and approvals needed to move them ahead.

We have taken practical steps to adapt existing systems. This year’s winter fuel resupply was one of the most complex in recent memory, with low water levels forcing major rerouting. Thanks to strong coordination across government, industry, and communities, over 9.6 million litres of fuel were delivered safely and on time to eight communities.

We also modernized the Public Utilities Board’s mandate to better support community-driven renewable energy, improve fairness in the system, and lay the groundwork for long-term affordability and sustainability.

Mr. Speaker, during a period of global uncertainty, we have taken targeted steps to protect the territory’s economy. Short-term relief for the diamond sector is helping maintain jobs, sustain local businesses, and support Indigenous contracting at a time of significant market disruption.

When the federal government eliminated the consumer carbon tax, we moved quickly to align territorial policy; delivering immediate relief for residents while continuing to advance our 2030 Energy Strategy and long-term climate adaptation work.

We are also working to strengthen the foundations of our economy. The Northwest Territories is chairing the Committee on Internal Trade, helping lead national efforts to reduce trade barriers and unlock economic opportunity across Canada. We are doing this while remaining steadfast on the need to uphold economic modern treaty commitments and support our developing economy.

Mr. Speaker, we also have a great opportunity in the wake of the recent federal election. After nearly two decades, the NWT has a Minister in Cabinet, and for the first time ever the Prime Minister is someone born in our territory. There is a renewed sense that Canada is paying closer attention to the Arctic and the North; not just as a region in need, but as strategically essential to the success of the nation. This attention brings with it opportunities to collaborate in meaningful ways on the challenges we face, whether building the economy, adapting to climate change, strengthening community wellness and resilience, or highlighting Canada’s security and sovereignty.

We welcome this focus and are ready to work with Canada and all our partners to build a Northwest Territories that is stronger, safer, and more productive for Northerners and contributes to the Canadian federation.

As we look ahead, our focus remains clear.

We will continue working and building with Regular Members, Indigenous governments, community leaders, and residents to advance the priorities in our mandate: more homes, better health care, stronger emergency response, cleaner energy, safe communities and a resilient, sustainable economy that works for Northerners.

This is the time to move from strategy to implementation; from building trust to delivering results.

That is what we intend to do.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.