Tu Nedhé-Wiilideh MLA Richard Edjericon says the territorial government is failing to honour its own legislation after a required action plan under the NWT’s Undrip law was not produced on time.
Speaking in the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday, Edjericon said the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Implementation Act – passed in 2023 as Bill 85 – required the territorial government to work with Indigenous governments to produce an action plan within two years.
That deadline passed in October 2025, with no plan tabled.
“Words don’t get my constituents timely medical care,” Edjericon said, accusing the territorial government of “soaring rhetoric about rights, reconciliation and cooperation” but little action to back that up.
“Words don’t fund schools. Words don’t solve the housing crisis. Words don’t create jobs or bring economic opportunities to their communities.”
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Describing the legislation as a supposed landmark for the territory, Edjericon said his constituents “want more” and asked Premier RJ Simpson who is accountable for the missed deadline.
The premier, responding, said the delay is out of the GNWT’s hands as the action plan is designed to be a collaborative effort involving Indigenous governments.
The action plan is still being developed by a committee comprising territorial officials and Indigenous government representatives, he said, adding the committee first met in April 2024.
Simpson said he wrote to the committee ahead of the October 2025 deadline, noting he expected the plan to be delivered on time. The committee told him it was not ready, he said.
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“It takes longer to do things when you do things together, but we have to do things together – and this is an area where we are actually mandated to do this together,” Simpson said.
“I’m not the boss of the Indigenous governments who are on the action plan committee,” he added, noting the legislation contains no provision for fines or other penalties. “It’s essentially the honour system.”
Simpson said he expects the action plan to be tabled later this year, after which a public comment period will follow as required by the legislation.
The exchange followed the tabling last week of a Standing Committee on Public Accounts report reviewing an auditor general’s audit of protected and conserved areas. That report noted the legislative timeline for the Undrip action plan had passed without the required plan or public engagement taking place.
When the NWT passed Bill 85 it became the second province or territory after British Columbia to formally legislate implementation of the UN Declaration. Not all Indigenous nations in the NWT supported the legislation at the time.
