Caroline Wawzonek

Députée de Yellowknife Sud

Première ministre adjointe
Ministre des Finances
Ministre responsable de la Société d’énergie des Territoires du Nord-Ouest
Ministre responsable de l’infrastructure stratégique, de l’énergie et des chaînes d’approvisionnement

Caroline Wawzonek a été élue pour la première fois à la 19e Assemblée législative en 2019, comme représentante de Yellowknife Sud. Elle a été ministre de la Justice, ministre des Finances, ministre responsable de la condition de la femme, et ministre de l’Industrie, du Tourisme et de l’Investissement. En 2023, Mme Wawzonek a été élue par acclamation à la 20e Assemblée législative et a réintégré le Conseil exécutif en tant que première ministre adjointe, ministre des Finances, ministre de l’Infrastructure et ministre responsable de la Société d’énergie des TNO.

Mme Wawzonek a obtenu un baccalauréat ès arts de l’Université de Calgary en 2000 et un diplôme en droit de la faculté de droit de l’Université de Toronto en 2005. Son parcours universitaire comprend des études de langues en Chine et à Taïwan, ainsi que des stages de droit aux Philippines et en Angleterre. Mme Wawzonek est née à Calgary (Alberta) et habite Yellowknife depuis 2007.

Une fois admise au Barreau des TNO, Mme Wawzonek a mis sur pied sa propre pratique du droit pénal et a plaidé à tous les échelons du système judiciaire des Territoires du Nord-Ouest, et s’est souvent déplacée dans les collectivités ténoises à cet effet. Elle a ensuite intégré le cabinet d’avocats Dragon Toner, élargissant sa pratique au litige général et au droit administratif jusqu’à ce qu’elle devienne députée de la 19e Assemblée.

Depuis 2007, Mme Wawzonek a assumé de nombreux rôles de leadership au sein de la communauté juridique : elle a notamment été présidente du Barreau des Territoires du Nord-Ouest et présidente de section pour la division des Territoires du Nord-Ouest de l’Association du Barreau canadien, et a participé à divers groupes de travail. Son engagement envers la collectivité l’a amenée à œuvrer dans de multiples organisations de Yellowknife et, en 2017, elle a reçu un prix national soulignant le travail de femmes canadiennes œuvrant dans le domaine du droit.

Mère de deux enfants, Caroline Wawzonek aime courir, faire de la planche à pagaie et passer du temps à l’extérieur.

Committees

Caroline Wawzonek
Yellowknife Sud
Bureau

Yellowknife NT X1A 2L9
Canada

P.O. Boîte
1320
Extension
12177
Vice-premier ministre, Ministère des finances, Ministre de l'Infrastructure, Ministre responsable de la Société d'énergie des Territoires du Nord-Ouest
Mobile
Ministre

Déclarations dans les débats

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 60)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. No, Mr. Chair, this will not be fully complete in the coming fiscal year. Where we're at at this point is that there -- the MIT system is expected to be fully replaced over the course of this fiscal year, and then MARS as a whole, best guess here that I can give, Mr. Chair, with fair limited -- with the sort of limited notes that I would have for the purposes of this supplementary appropriation is that will happen in the following fiscal year, so in roughly a year and a half from now, and then over the course of that fiscal year, so 2026-2027, some of the timing issues...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 60)

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, there is work underway. This is a problem that was anticipated; it's not new. And so there is, of course, the Northwest Territories active living framework. It is a framework that is, you know, covering the next several years right through until 2033, and in that framework, I can certainly report -- I'm happy to report that there are some new funding agreements that are being signed with different sports partners, different territorial sports organizations, not for the coming fiscal year but for the year after which, you know, hopefully, will start to...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 60)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And, Mr. Chair, there absolutely is a limit. It is -- it's whether or not a project's request for carryover complies with the financial administration manual, and so that is specifically whether or not there's already a contractual obligation in place or if a department can demonstrate that there's been substantial progress on a project. And so, you know, if a project is slowly moving along, it will, in theory, meet that test -- I say in theory because it is still subject to approval by the financial management board. So all projects where departments are seeking...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 60)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. This specific amount of funding, Mr. Chair, is suggested in order to help fund the cost associated with 2026 Arctic Winter Games which will be held in Whitehorse March 18th to 15th of 2026. The funds do need to be confirmed well enough in advance for teams to be selected and the associated coaching and support staff to be selected, and so that's why it is coming through now. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 60)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just bear with me for one moment, Mr. Chair. This project has now been underway since 2022-2023 and the solution, as it does sometimes prove to be the case with a number of different IT projects, what was initially expected to be the final solution has proven to, in fact, be more difficult in terms of it not aligning to the needs of this -- of the office. So at this time, Mr. Chair, yeah, so that did delay the project that we didn't have -- it wasn't -- the suitability of the originally anticipated solution. So instead, what we are looking to do is it's called the one...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 60)

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document: 2023/2024 Report on the Departmental Indigenous Employment Plans Results. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 60)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, let me start, if I might, with the health information systems charting tool. There's a couple of items all listed here so just so I'm talking about the right item. But this is the electronic health record project. This is a multi-year project. It is underway; I can say that much. But there was -- let me just see if I can -- sorry, Mr. Chair. There's been some changes to the project timeline, and specifically, here we do have -- sorry, Mr. Chair. I just want to make sure I'm on the right project.

Let me see if the deputy minister has it, the right one in front of...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 60)

Mr. Speaker, I stand before you today to talk about how the Government of the Northwest Territories is making improvements when it comes to our technology systems and online services. Our main goal is simple: We want to make government services easier to access and safer to use. We want people to be able to securely access services like applying for a permit, or accessing a marriage, birth or death certificate, no matter where they live in the Northwest Territories.

Residents can now access a wide array of services digitally, from applying for vital statistics documents or renewing driver's...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 60)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Sorry, Mr. Chair, I realize my answer wasn't very clear. So originally, this was a three -- projected to be a three-year project. It is now projected to be a four-year project first, on the firsthand. And secondly, there was an additional amount that was added to the project, not in this supp. But with the addition of the extra year on the project, the original timing of some of when things were being spent has changed. And so originally, the total projected -- the total projected spending now for 2024-2025 is just shy of $200,000 which leaves a balance available of --...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 60)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, there certainly is some ability to do that. You can have a contractor or a subcontractor declared to be -- I'm not -- the word's escaping me, Mr. Chair. But to have them noted so that future procurement does look at them as being -- yeah, and would have that noted on file as being a known contractor with whom there have been problems. That's a fairly significant consideration, fairly significant marking to have (audio) so it would have to be fairly certain. I'd certainly be happy to take it away and see whether there is something more that can be done. I hear...