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 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...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to start today by letting the Member know and letting residents of the Northwest Territories know that as the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, I will not endorse or support policies that -- or legislation that I see is harmful to residents of the Northwest Territories, including our youth. What is being done today, Mr. Speaker, under the Education Act and safe schools regulations, schools in the Northwest Territories are required to provide a safe and caring environment for the school community. So ECE hosts a territorial...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I was reminded to slow down so my apologies to the interpreters.
Getting the MARS system and going on a journey to MARS with the Member is definitely a priority, and I look forward to continuing to find out if there are solutions to getting this done quicker. But I am also looking to make sure that it is done properly. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following two documents: 20222023 Annual Report on Official Languages; and, Aurora College Annual Report 20222023. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, first off I appreciate the Member's enthusiasm and support of the mineral resource sector. Right now we are undergoing a little bit of a different strategy at Cabinet, not one where I'm being asked to double numbers at the moment, but I am being asked to be creative in the priorities of this government. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, what I would say to that one is because there might be, you know, some things that I don't know about in my role here as Minister, I don't have eyes on to all the applications that do come through income assistance, but as always if there is an issue with any file with any income assistance client, I do recommend that they speak to their client navigator. If that doesn't work, of course I do receive emails from Members on a regular basis letting me know what has gone wrong or what support someone needs. And so absolutely, speak to either your client...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, ECE employs what's called client navigators, and the client navigators work for income assistance and are responsible for providing that support to income assistance clients. And I can say that Behchoko does have a client navigator that is available to residents and to provide them with support to complete forms and let them know what forms might be missing or what else is required. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
