The newly elected members of the 20th Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories chose R.J. Simpson as the premier of their upcoming government.

Simpson had won the seat for the "Hay River North" district in the town of Hay River for the third consecutive time in the general legislative elections on November 14 in this vast and sparsely populated Canadian territory.

Competing with him for the position of premier were MLA Caroline Wawzonek, who won the seat for the "Yellowknife South" district in the capital Yellowknife, and MLA Shane Thompson, who won the seat for the "Nahendeh" district.

The Northwest Territories has a consensus government, so there are no political parties but independent candidates. The 20 winning MLAs among them select the premier and cabinet members by secret ballot.

Simpson was first elected to the Legislative Assembly in the 2015 general election for the "Hay River North" district as well and served as deputy speaker of the assembly.

He was re-elected by acclamation in the same district in the 2019 general election. His father, Rocky Simpson, won the seat for the "Hay River South" district in that election.

In that 19th Legislative Assembly, R.J. Simpson served as speaker and was also entrusted with the portfolio of Justice. He then obtained the portfolio of Education, Culture, and Employment during a cabinet shuffle.

Simpson belongs to the Métis people, classified among Canada's Indigenous peoples, a group formed from the blending of Indigenous peoples with white Europeans, especially the French.

Simpson holds a Bachelor of Arts from MacEwan University in Edmonton, the capital of Alberta province located south of the Northwest Territories, and a law degree from the Faculty of Law at the University of Alberta in Calgary, the largest city of that province.

Before entering the Legislative Assembly for the first time, Simpson worked for the federal government and for private companies active in the fields of transportation and engineering.

The Northwest Territories covers an area of about 1.35 million square kilometers. The population of this vast territory is about 45,000 according to estimates by Statistics Canada for the third quarter of this year, half of whom are Indigenous peoples.