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 35)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the paving project for the airport is right now expected to be over 2027-2028 and somewhere in the course of that, we will be able to include the paving of the bypass road. Thank you.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 35)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this too, I do just want to just provide quickly before -- you know, we pay the costs that we pay for services, and certainly within health care, these are essential services for residents of the Northwest Territories. But, Mr. Speaker, the auditor general was bringing together what for us is the P3 project which is the Stanton Hospital as well as the Liwego'ati Building which is where the long-term care facility and now primary care are housed. So this has been a conversation that I've had with the Auditor General's Office of Canada that does our audits...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 35)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the opportunity that arose to sublease the building was later in the procurement process. This has been some of the challenge with the audit is that there were multiple stages to what occurred from back in 2013 when the project first originated up to the last stage of that project which is when that decision was made to sublease. At that point in time, there was this opportunity because the investment that was being made by one of the partners to decommission, renovate, you know, clean up that old building, that involved a significant amount of investment...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 35)

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Kam Lake, that Bill 11, An Act to Amend the Motor Vehicles Act, be read for the second time.

The proposed, An Act to Amend the Motor Vehicles Act, will allow police to move more quickly with their investigations. The bill amends the Motor Vehicles Act to update and clarify the ways in which the registrar of motor vehicles can share information about drivers, vehicles, and holders of general identification cards. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 35)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have to acknowledge I have become a bit of a generalist in this job, not an expert. So I'm not going to purport to be an expert in flattening hierarchies. I certainly will commit to take that back to the Department of Finance. We -- you know, things have come up here over this last session,b looking at Indigenous hiring, looking at empowering public servants, and looking at morale. And so I've already asked that the department and I sit down and take all those under consideration as soon as session's over. I'm going to add flattening hierarchy to that...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 35)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would be more than happy to encourage every public servant to take the opportunity to use, whether it's the red tape reduction working group firstly, which @email -- always happy to get that in when I can. But to submit if there's a specific process that is burdensome. Obviously it's the frontline workers who know that best. If they're running into a process, running into a program, running into something internally or even outward facing that is red tape-esq, then raising it specifically to the attention of this group is really quite important...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 34)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wasn't present at the meeting so I'm not going to try to quote anyone that was present. Mr. Speaker, whenever there is a situation where individuals or staff are facing a change in their status, we have what are called the staff retention policy guidelines. We have staff retention policy, and we always make every effort to ensure that any employee who is facing a change in their status of employment has that full benefit.

What happens is that under the staff retention policy, a staff member would get a 21-week notice period. That clock starts to run when...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 34)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I believe there are still conversations underway right now with the Department of Finance on behalf of the Government of the Northwest Territories and NorthwesTel. We were also involved just this past summer and into the fall in terms of producing -- or, rather, providing completion of a fibre line all the way up into Tuktoyaktuk, and stemming from those conversations we were -- again, this is part of the -- part of the bigger conversation that's happening with them about how we can maximize the services in the telecommunications space in the Northwest...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 34)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Government of the Northwest Territories is a part owner on a P3 which is the Mackenzie Valley fibre line that goes up the Mackenzie Valley. And recently, we are now connected in to a project that goes through the Yukon which is creating a loop that goes down into British Columbia. So we are well underway to having a loop that connects all throughout the two territories. And of course then beyond that, there are services that go down into Alberta through our line or through British Columbia through the other line. So once that is all in place, Mr...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 34)

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following two documents: The 70th Annual Report of the Northwest Territories Liquor and Cannabis Commission 2023-2024, and the 70th Annual Report of the Northwest Territories Liquor Licensing Board Enforcement 2023-2024. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.