Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment Minister of Education, Culture and Employment
The Honourable Caitlin Cleveland was first elected in the 19th Assembly as the MLA for Kam Lake in 2019, and has served as the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, and Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment since 2023 after being acclaimed to the 20th Assembly.
In addition to owning and operating a northern business for over 20 years, Minister Cleveland worked in a variety of communications and policy roles in both the public and private sectors before entering politics.
Between 2019 to 2023, she chaired the Standing Committee on Social Development, fulfilling a goal to be a part of the discussions and decisions affecting social programs in the Northwest Territories. Her noteworthy work on the Committee included guiding the considerable review and input into recommendations on housing in the NWT, suicide prevention, and improvements to caring for children in care and building supported families.
Within the scope of her portfolios, Minister Cleveland is focused on helping children grow into successful NWT residents that recognize opportunities and develop successful careers that contribute to a growing economy. She advocates for new approaches to sector diversification and innovation, and ensures the North is welcoming both skilled foreign workers and investment in the critical mineral resources across the territory. She persistently explores solutions for efficient and equitable access to programs and services, upholding a shared vision of an NWT where people are supported in the ways they wish to live, work, and grow.
Minister Cleveland is a lifelong resident of Yellowknife where she lives with her husband and their three children.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, the draft NWT adapted curriculum does have topics on gender and identity that are covered in grades 4, 5, 6, and 9 that I indicated earlier this week that those are the grades trialing the new curriculum. So in the draft curriculum, grades 4 through 6 health curriculum is supported to be able to describe and apply strategies that promote safe and caring environments, such as culture of consent and awareness and acceptance of different races, ethnicities, cultural practices, and gender identities and expressions. Also it supports to understand physical...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, ECE collaborates regularly with the Northern Mosaic Network through the safe and caring school subcommittee. And this supports education bodies' needs around ensuring that 2SLGBTQIPA+ youth are -- have access to safety, equity, and inclusion. The Northern Mosaic Network is invited and provides sessions as well to NWT educators through annual in-services. And recently, the Northern Mosaic Network provided in-service on supporting 2SLGBTQIPA+ diversity in secondary and elementary education at the program support teacher in-service that just occurred in...
Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document: A Package of Information regarding Policies on 2SLGBTQIPA+ Youth in the Northwest Territories, including a letter to the Northern Mosaic Network and a response to the Northern Mosaic Network. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'll make the commitment to first find out if there is a challenge at the education board and school level. And if there is a challenge, I will make the commitment to ensure that it's addressed. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I love data and evidence-based decision-making, and I'm always game to see what numbers are out there. Thank you.
Thank you so much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, at this point, you know, there's been conversation about putting extra dollars into early learning and child care. There's been comments about expanding the -- or removing the cap and putting dollars in there. There's been requests for putting more money into seniors' home heating subsidy. And there's only so much that I can move dollars around within the department in order to accommodate those. So some difficult decisions are going to have to be made on behalf of this whole government as a team. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I'm too long, I'm too short; I just don't know. I'm happy to provide information.
School education bodies receive funding directly. People can also apply for separate funding. There is also funding available through Aurora College when they participate. They get funding directly from ECE to participate when they're doing their training for the early learning and child care certificate and diploma program. And so there's a multitude of different kind of avenues that funding comes from. But I am happy to provide more detailed information to the Member for sure...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the draft NWT adapted curriculum is streamlined, and it focuses on competency building more than content retention. So this actually ends up providing more opportunities for place-based learning, which in our northern communities translates into land-based learning. The adaption of the BC curriculum ensures that many explicit references to the BC curriculum to Indigenous ways of being and knowing are NWT-specific. So this curriculum adaption almost gives us more opportunities than working with the previous curriculum in order to ensure that there are land...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in addition to the items that I have already mentioned, there is also a gender support plan that schools have which provides a guide for staff members to understand ways a student's gender can be affirmed while the student is supported at school. ECE also supports evidence-based healthy relationship training for school staff and a safe school regulations mandate that safe school plans must include, like I said before, the bullying prevention, intervention, education strategies that integrate evidence-based healthy relationship programming into the...
