Caitlin Cleveland

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would definitely like the opportunity to see a lot more entrepreneurship across the territory, especially ensuring that we're supporting the development of entrepreneurship in our small communities.

With the subsidiaries that currently fall under Prosper NWT, they employ roughly eight full-time positions annually, and they cost Prosper NWT about $1.3 million a year. And so one of the goals that I have throughout the term of this Assembly is to work with the very skilled board members of Prosper NWT, who bring a lot of entrepreneurial experience...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I commit to working with education bodies to understand how I can support their needs to improve attendance across the territory. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, different education bodies have used different tactics because they see their challenges as being unique in communities across the territory. Many of our well, all of our schools have food programs to try and incentivize youth to come to school for that reason. Some education bodies send busses around the communities to pick students up from their home and bring them to the school. And, of course, teachers have come up with unique ways to try and incentivize attendance in schools and that could be anything from choosing subjects that are...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I was 22 years old when I learned I would soon welcome my first child. I was excited, anxious, eager for the journey to come, but was also terrified because I couldn't keep a plant alive and would soon be trusted to raise a human. And so on the 6th day of the 6th month of the 6th year at 6 minutes to 9:00, I met Action Jackson. I was in awe of him. He was fiercely independent, terrifyingly fearless, relentlessly curious, and oh so sweet. This past weekend, that baby graduated high school.

As we stood for a family photo, him in his cap and gown, he stretched...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can confirm to the Member that this is a holding topic at meetings with the education bodies, with the chairs, across the territory and is frequently discussed. Mr. Speaker, I can also confirm for the Member that this is something that is very important to me because we can it doesn't matter how much money we invest in education, if students around attending school then we cannot improve our education outcomes as a territory. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, attendance has long been a concern for education bodies across the territory and have put in different mechanisms to try to address attendance over the years, but as the Member stated in her statement today, there is definitely a huge concern for attendance across the territory in today's world as well. And so this is really a situation and a challenge that is going to have to be addressed not only by teachers, principals, education bodies, but by communities as a whole and by a territory as a whole. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, art is powerful, and art is beautiful, but it is far more than a thing of beauty. Art is a personal, local, and global connector. It connects people to themselves, to one another, and to people living across the world. Further, it connects us to culture, land, and elders and it is critical to our wellbeing and to our shared and individual histories. Art is a conduit of healing. Art is foundational to how we educate our children, preserve traditions, feed community wellness, and build a strong and independent territory.

The arts sector plays a valuable role in the NWT, not only for...

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, can the Member clarify if they're speaking in regards to the wage grid regulations?

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I want to start off by just pointing out that the two or kind of apples and oranges because one is talking about JK to 12 education; the other's talking about Aurora College, and they're very separate. In regards to the Member's question about the reduction for our territorial schools and administration, that number is enrolment driven. And so while I did, as Minister, use that number to bring to my colleagues within this fiscal sustainability exercise, that is a number that goes up and down year after year because it is based entirely on enrolment...

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the department was able to look at the last five years of that spending line item and able to identify that over the last five years, typically $150,000 of that subsidy was not spent. And so I would absolutely love the opportunity to go over budget on that line item this year and would challenge my colleagues to help me find employers willing to help us do that. Thank you.