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 very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank my colleagues for talking about our students, the importance of education, and also this Assembly's priority on building a strong economic foundation for our whole territory.
Mr. Speaker, changes were made to the Student Financial Assistance Program in 2023-2024, including increases to the benefit rates for remissible loans. ECE is analyzing the impacts of the changes, including impacts to the SFA loan limits, which is expected to be completed at the end of the 2024-2025 academic year.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there is a funding pot that is referenced as SCIP that is available to licensed centrebased early learning and child care facilities. It promotes staff training to help with the development of inclusive programming, provides guidance, resources, and support to create appropriate spaces, and supports staff positions that can provide onetoone support for children.
Mr. Speaker, I absolutely hear the Member, though, that what I am hearing from not only the Member but from residents of the territory is that they are looking for more supports, and what I...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like the opportunity to find out from the Member exactly what it is that he is looking for as far as support and be able to find out how we can help one another make sure that this happens, but I'd like to better understand what it is that he's looking for. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the current school funding framework does distribute funding based on a base level of funding; enrolmentbased funding as well; a northern context index, which depends on the location of the school; consumer price increases, as well as targeted funding, for example for inclusive schooling. But I fully expect that the funding formula will also be a huge topic of conversation as we review the Education Act. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, one of my tasks, and very exciting and important tasks over the life of this term, is to begin work on the modernization of the Education Act, and that work will be done in collaboration with Indigenous governments and so I could very well see this being part of the conversation.
One of the cautions I would put out there is that the treaties currently under negotiation, that do not yet have boundaries established there's some of them so we wouldn't know what those would be, and then under, for example Treaty 8 and Treaty 11, the geographies are...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am absolutely more than happy to sit down with anybody. That is one of our key jobs as Ministers, is we spend a lot of time in meetings making sure that we understand what it is that residents of the Northwest Territories are looking for. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, one of the things that we have heard from education bodies across the Northwest Territories, and specifically people who are in the role of classroom support positions, is that they wanted to have a fuller toolbox to be able to help students. And so one of the programs that ECE worked with education bodies to put into place over the course of the last few years was training for classroom assistants through a partnership that was formed with Douglas College, which I look forward to speaking about more in the House this week, and we are just...
Debates of
, 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 25)
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, to my left I have deputy minister Pamela Strand. And to my right, I have Nina Salvador who is the director of corporate management and finance.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I didn't hear a question, but I very much look forward to discussing with the Member and absolutely very much look forward to hopefully travelling to the Sahtu. Thank you.
