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 72)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to recognize another resident of Yellowknife South, a politically involved sports mom like myself, Nicole Csar. Thank you.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 72)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we do conduct every two years the Employee Engagement and Satisfaction Survey, which obviously is internal, wouldn't necessarily be an outward-facing with respect to the perspective of the clients of the front-facing -- front-service providers but certainly does engage in it and measure the degree to which public servants themselves are sensing their improvement or seeing their engagement are feeling the level of delivery of service that they provide. There's a number of different measures, and, in fact, it's a little plug, Mr. Speaker, because that survey...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 72)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, public procurement processes are one that the government takes very seriously. It is very important to ensure that when an RFP goes out that it is adhered to, it is put out publicly. The very nature of the process is that there will be a successful bidder and there will be not successful bidders. And what we do at that point, Mr. Speaker, is to ensure, again, as I've said, that we throughout the process are monitoring what's going on internally, that when there's a large procurement, there's a fairness advisor from outside of the government to monitor that...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 72)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there is -- one of the things we are working on right now is actually to have an improvement to our vendor complaint process. The process that we have right now is a review process, and anyone that goes through a procurement and is unsuccessful at the end of that procurement can go through the review process, and it would be explained to them where they may have been unsuccessful or why they may have been unsuccessful, and procurement shared services can work with potential proponents so that they can improve bids going forward.

Mr. Speaker, with respect to...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 72)

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following three documents: The 71st Annual Report 2024-2025 of the Northwest Territories Liquor Licensing Board; the Northwest Territories Liquor and Cannabis Commission 71st Annual Report 2024-2025; and, the Northwest Territories Hydro and Northwest Territories Power Corporation 2024-2025 Annual Report. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 72)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I believe for anyone watching and eager to take one of these programs, it's the certified service professional I believe. Certified service professional and certified service manager work. They have been going on for many years, but they have shifted a few years ago to being an online program so they wouldn't necessarily get fully subscribed, Mr. Speaker. But so folks who are interested certainly can contact -- it's the OCIO that actually manages this particular program as that is our contact point within the Department of Finance, and they continue to receive quite a...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 72)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, if a fairness advisor, for example, were to identify that there was any irregularity or concern raised, a procurement can be paused and a procurement certainly can be -- we can make a decision not to continue. At the same time, Mr. Speaker, we certainly want to ensure that fundamentally that the reputation of the government to follow through with procurements when they've put out is maintained and that they continue to do so in a transparent fashion. So there are quite a number of rules that are associated to conducting a procurement and to conducting a...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 71)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Department of Finance does oversee the process, and there certainly are occasions where there'll be discussion back and forth, particularly at an operational level, to ensure that the quality of everything that's being brought forward meets the standards that we were expecting them to meet, that when it comes to the financial management board, the financial management board becomes satisfied as information that we require. And also, Mr. Speaker, the financial management board has the benefit of an entity known as the management board secretariat.

These are analysts...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 71)

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Kam Lake that Bill 38, Supplementary Appropriation Act, (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 2, 2025-2026, be read for the third time. And, Mr. Speaker, I would request a recorded vote. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 71)

Mr. Speaker, I wanted to start by saying that the number of times a committee meets doesn't address the root causes of trauma, and that's certainly to say right now -- I'll certainly be more than happy to go back to the department and through the business planning, overseeing that we do make sure that our commitments are more clear than simply the number of times a committee meets.

With respect to training, though, Mr. Speaker, the frontline public service staff -- well, all public service staff, those writing policies, those interacting with individuals, those who are trying to direct the work...