Premier Simpson gives health minister a shot in the arm

Premier R.J. Simpson was forced to defend – and praise – Health Minister Lesa Semmler after her performance was again called into question by a Regular MLA.

For example, last May, Simpson re-affirmed support for Semmler after a group of MLAs accused her of not taking her role seriously — and threatened to oust her from the job.

“As an Indigenous Northerner, a former health-care provider, and someone with years of experience in health system management, she brings a deep, personal understanding of the issues facing both our dedicated staff and the system as a whole,” Simpson stated at the time.

On Tuesday, he went even further, after Tu Nedhé-Wiilideh MLA Richard Edjericon asked in the Assembly, “what accountability exists when a Minister fails to uphold the trust of Regular Members and fails to deliver the mandate entrusted to them by this Premier.”

Simpson replied: “Leaders, including Indigenous leaders from the Member’s own riding, they go out of their way to tell me what a good job the Minister is doing and how much faith they have in her.”

Edjericon has been raising concerns over the medical travel policy, which does not always account for escorts and often forces patients or local governments to cover the costs of travel and stay in Edmonton, for example.

It’s a confusing situation at best, as the GNWT’s policy when it comes to escorts, covers scheduled appointments.

In 2024, Semmler admitted there are gaps in service: “Historic and current arrangements between the federal government and the GNWT around the provision of medical travel and the administration of the Non-Insured Health Benefits have resulted in policy and funding gaps that are complicated to resolve.”

Semmler has also said the GNWT follows that because it’s equivalent to NIHB’s policy.

What’s the NIHB? The federal government’s Non-Insured Health Benefits program provides First Nations and recognized Inuit with coverage for a specified, nationally consistent range of health benefits not otherwise covered through provincial or territorial health insurance, private insurance plans or other publicly-funded plans or programs.

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Edjericon often references the historic treaties and Article 24 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), which affirms the right of Indigenous Peoples to their traditional medicines, health practices, and access to all social and health services without discrimination.

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It guarantees the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, including the protection of medicinal plants.

“My question is the Premier: Is the Premier satisfied with these shortcomings, and what will he do to ensure the Minister takes meaningful action to fully implement UNDRIP during the remaining of this term?” asked the MLA.

Replied the Premier: “We do fulfill the treaties, I would say more than any other jurisdiction in Canada. We put more effort into ensuring that we do fulfill the treaties. I am excited with the changes that are happening (with health care). I have access to more of what’s going on, I would say, than obviously the general population, and there’s a lot of stuff happening in the departments right from putting in a public administrator, to straighten things out, to ensuring that we are understanding what we’re actually spending money on, to ensuring that the medical travel is being dealt with today.

“You know, we’re not waiting until text term to start looking into this. So, there’s a lot of great things happening, and things do take time, but we’re seeing those changes now. And I think that in the next few years, we’re going to see a significant transformation of the health-care system in the Northwest Territories for the better.

Meanwhile, Yellowknife Centre MLA Robert Hawkins raised safety concerns over two homeless encampments that remain inside city limits, even after the GNWT is spending $5 million for a temporary transitional housing facility near the Folk on the Rocks festival grounds, designed to bridge the gap between homelessness and permanent housing.

Hawkins said one camp is downtown near Sir John Franklin High School, while the other is further out, but right under hydro transmission lines.

“They continue to have fires there. They continue to have (fuel carrying) jerry cans there, and it continues to be a — well, we’ll say a mess,” said Hawkins. “I think that’s about the safest Parliamentary word I will use today.”

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Hawkins asked Housing Minister Lucy Kuptana what is being done to transition those homeless campers to transitional housing and also how often the Fire Marshal has inspected the sites.

There was a major blaze last October, when flames burst out at a trash-strewn homeless encampment beside the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre.

Large piles of refuse were seen in front of the months-long encampment earlier in the day, and red jerry cans were plainly visible.

Kuptana said: “We do have a Yellowknife partnership committee that meets regularly, along with the NWT Fire Marshal, along with environment and climate change officials. So, we do this constant communications and outreach including visits with the encampments.

Hawkins: “When has the fire marshal officially given their stamp of approval that these two encampments are safe?

Kuptana: “Since the NWT fire marshal doesn’t report to me, I don’t have that information at this time.”

And Monfwi MLA Jane Weyallon Armstrong had the line of the day at the end of her Member’s Statement, during which she talked about a mining development in northern Ontario — in the region known as The Ring of Fire — where three First Nations have entered a landmark partnership with Canada Nickel to advance a major mining project in their traditional territory near Timmins.

The MLA urged the GNWT to act quickly to help secure a diversified mineral development corridor — the Arctic Economic and Security Corridor — as it could attract multiple industries while supporting cultural resilience and traditional land.

She stated: “The time to act is now before mine closures deepen economic hardship. My vision is for connected prosperous Tłı̨chǫ region that leads Northern Canada in mineral development and Arctic trades.

“We may not have a Ring of Fire, but we could have a Frosty Circle.”

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