Caitlin Cleveland

Member Kam Lake

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.

Kam Lake Electoral District

Committees

Caitlin Cleveland
Kam Lake
Constituency Office
Phone
Minister's Office

Yellowknife NT X1A 2L9
Canada

P.O. Box
1320
Email
Phone
Extension
11124
Minister of Education, Culture and Employment Minister of Industry, Tourism, and Investment

Statements in Debates

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 67)

Luckily, it's the same person. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, in regards to what ITI is doing to streamline access to programs and services, we have migrated all of our funding programs under the same grants and contributions policy for consistency. We also have regional decision-making as far as our grants and contributions go. I am happy to say that a significant amount of funding flows both from ECE and ITI and also Prosper NWT across the regions, and as far as Prosper NWT is concerned, actually 83 percent of dollars from Prosper flow outside of Yellowknife. Thank you.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 67)

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when I was asked for meetings, I certainly was able to attend them and happy to do so, but for the most part these meetings happened between officials, because a lot of the times, the information that's being requested is operational and fairly in the weeds. People are looking to understand the cost of operating these buildings and more finer details about the infrastructure itself. Thank you.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 67)

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we do our best to make sure that we have an idea of, first of all, where people are at, what their goals are, and how we can support them to get there. This program is just now entering into its second year of being the new directive by Education, Culture and Employment in its current form, and that's not information that I have in front of me here, nor information that we would have had the opportunity to collect and analyze so young into the infancy of this next program. Thank you.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 67)

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the biggest change that occurred with the changes that were made in regard to income assistance, in regards to pathways to employment, was the ability of residents who are on income assistance to keep an increased amount of earned income, so that's -- they've increased it to $500 per adult plus 25 percent of income over that. And so what that does is it provides people a grace period to re-enter enter the workforce where they're not going to get clawbacks. And so it's a safety step for residents who are on income assistance and a critical part for...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 66)

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Thebacha, that Bill 28, An Act to Amend the Student Financial Assistance Act, No. 2, be read for the third time. And, Mr. Speaker, I request a recorded vote. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 66)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, we've divided our approach to a one-stop shop into two phases. The first phase will be an online presence and the second phase would be working towards a physical presence. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 66)

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And I appreciate the question from the Member. So this would be bringing together all the stakeholders within the regulatory system so that being the GNWT as well as our regulatory boards as well as the federal government, so we want to make sure that we're working closely with the federal government to understand how we fit within, for example, their major projects' office and the way that they're driving projects forward. So we're looking at the end of next calendar year for that. Thank you.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 66)

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, it's essentially a one-stop shop where we can bring all of the players, if you will, in our regulatory system and our pathfinders together into one place for stakeholders to be able to gather information about working within our system, and our deadline for having this available to the public is the end of this year, calendar year. Thank you.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 65)

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, to my left I have Jamie Fulford, deputy minister of Education, Culture and Employment. And to my right, I have Nicole Beauchamp, assistant deputy minister, labour and income security.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 65)

Thank you, Madam Chair. I am here to present Bill 28, An Act to Amend the Student Financial Assistance Act, No. 2. This bill seeks to amend the Student Financial Assistance Act to increase the student loan fund, also called the revolving loan limit in the schedule of the Act from $45 million to $55 million.

Enhancements to the student financial assistance program made in 2023-2024, along with more recent changes made to the act by Bill 8, increase the maximum amount that may be loaned to an individual student. Bill 28 will increase the student loan fund by $10 million to ensure students who are...