Member Inuvik Twin Lakes

Minister of Health and Social Services

Lesa Semmler currently serves as the Member representing Inuvik Twin Lakes in the 20th Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly, having been re-elected to the position. Born in Yellowknife, NT, and raised in Inuvik, where she still resides, Ms. Semmler has deep roots in the Northwest Territories. 

A Registered Nurse, Ms. Semmler graduated from the Aurora College Northern Nursing Program in 2000 and earned her Community Health Nurse Certification from the Canadian Nurses Association in 2008. With 15 years of frontline nursing experience at the Inuvik Regional Hospital, she focused on Acute Care, Homecare, and Public Health. Her career also included roles as the Manager of Acute Care Services and eventually the Regional Manager of Acute Care Services under the Northwest Territories Health and Social Services Authority. Notably, she served as the Inuvialuit Health System Navigator at the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation, assisting Inuvialuit Beneficiaries in navigating the healthcare system. 

Beyond her healthcare career, Ms. Semmler has actively contributed to education and community service. She served on the Inuvik District Education Authority, assuming the role of Chair from 2015 to 2018, and chaired the Beaufort Delta Education Council. Ms. Semmler participated in various working groups at the territorial and national levels, including the Inuit Tuberculosis Elimination Board and the Inuit Midwifery Revitalization. Her commitment to social justice is evident in her voluntary work as a member of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls National Family Advisory Circle, where she worked to ensure northern voices were heard and represented. Lesa Semmler's life and career reflect her passion for healthcare, education, and advocating for the well-being of her community.

Inuvik Twin Lakes Electoral District

Committees

Lesa Semmler
Inuvik Twin Lakes
Member's Office

Yellowknife NT X1A 2L9
Canada

P.O. Box
1320
Constituency Office

125 Mackenzie Rd
Unit 203
Inuvik NT X0E 0T0
Canada

P.O. Box
3130
Minister
Minister of Health and Social Services

Statements in Debates

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I will pass that on to the ADM for the detail.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, you know, we are looking at this and we have -- we are doing some work around this. And so the money that has been allocated to this, you know, we -- in order for us to know exactly what services we're going to provide and how we're going to provide them and, you know, we are looking at this program in particular, so right now, how it is is that it's just what was averaged last year. We are -- you know, that's what's going to be budgeted for this year. However, you know, we'll be -- like I said, we'll be looking at ways that we can -- with this funding and how...

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am glad to take that information back to discuss with the department. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, when somebody is admitted and they're known to, you know, if they're -- say, if they're admitted for something else, like pneumonia and all that, their history is taken into account and so they would manage their -- them within their plan of care during their admission and however that would be -- you know, whether it is through medication management, it would be part of their admission process. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

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

Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. That is one of the parts that we are looking at. Because as long as somebody -- once they're approved for medical travel, normally we'll go through our processes, and so what part of that is making sure, like, you know, anyone who's travelling from A to B, this is the -- this is what will allow for -- you know, coming up with a standard of what those costs could potentially be that we would normally reimburse for. And so I think there's -- then that's why I said it's a more of a modernization. It's being able to do things different and to allow for more flexibility...

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, that's due to the renegotiation of the Northern Wellness Agreement. So once we have that agreement finalized, that the money will go back there. So it's just because we're in -- by the time the budget is done, the agreement ended and so we're in negotiations for the future agreement, multi-year agreement. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am going to pass that over to the ADM if that's okay to explain that math.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'll have to follow up with the Member. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the way that this works is that it's at per needs. So if a person is requiring it, now we have extra staff that we can use to dedicate that person to being able to provide detox. And so normally up until now, all of our hospitals did do this in some shape or form. They -- you know, when people were coming in, they were detoxing them. Sometimes there would be admissions when people were needing detox before going to the hospital. But these would never have been funded. So they were always just on top of being an admission into the hospital. And now we have...

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, as I mentioned earlier that the reallocation of the medical travel funding at the NTHSSA to other pressure areas throughout their authorities is because we were able to get the funding through the NIHB agreement to actually pay for things that were for NIHB. We have been offsetting NIHB costs for many, many, many years, and so this last -- this last couple years, we were able to negotiate a special allotment fund to pay for a big portion of that, and so we were able to use -- because that's one of the things that was a deficit driver. When we got that...