Lesa Semmler

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
Email
Lesa_semmler@ntassembly.ca
Phone
(867) 767-9143 (link is a phone number)
Constituency Office

125 Mackenzie Rd
Unit 203
Inuvik NT X0E 0T0
Canada

P.O. Box
3130
Constituency Phone
867-678-2429(link is a phone number)
Minister
Email
Lesa_semmler@gov.nt.ca
Minister of Health and Social Services

Statements in Debates

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

I don't have that detail in front of me, but I do believe that it was in their annual -- their public annual report on child and family services, so it is a public document. Thank you, Madam Chair.

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

I can pass it on to the ADM.

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

Thank you, Madam Chair. To my left is the deputy minister Jo-Anne Cecchetto. And to my left -- or my right, my other left -- to my right is Jeannie Mathison, ADM finance.

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

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, that contribution actually goes to the Tlicho government as a contribution. Thank you. And it's fully subscribed.

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

Yes, Madam Chair, the health sustainability unit is taking -- I mean, they have to analyze the entire system and that's where -- we cannot just analyze pieces of it. And if we continue to analyze pieces of it, then, you know, we don't know how those pieces are working together. So, yes, the health sustainability is -- and the deputy minister and her department and the PA have been directed to work, you know, all together so that way the whole system is being analyzed. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Question 497-20(1): Improving Northwest Territories Healthcare Cards
Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 43)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just to clarify, I think it's the renewals that are up right now for Northwest Territories residents to make sure that they're applying within a couple of months of their health care card. I'd have to look into how or who is the procurement of how we do our health care cards. But that is all kind of the questions that I have just started to have because I think it's important that if we're doing this in the Northwest Territories, then we need to be making sure that those cards, everybody in our territory has one. Maybe having their picture on it, maybe it being their...

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

Thank you, Madam Chair. That is -- the work is being done, yes, on that new agreement.

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

It's moving the midwife position back into this, so that specialist midwife position. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Question 485-20(1): Mental Health Supports for the Deh Cho Region
Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 42)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it's my understanding that the data we do have, we'll have to go back to get specifics to her community if we have it. We might have it wrapped up in a regional, but I can get back to the Member on the four communities that she serves. Thank you.

Question 481-20(1): Medical Travel Accommodations for Mackenzie Delta Residents
Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 42)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I do commit to doing this as I also -- you know, with part of this medical travel piece, we are working -- you know, this is a conversation that comes up with -- at the Council of Leaders. It comes up in bilaterals with Indigenous governments. It comes up with constituents. So I have heard from many residents and these are all the things, as the Minister, that I'm taking in account while looking at the bigger -- the medical travel -- modernization of how we're moving patients in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.