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. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister of Finance. Mr. Speaker, phase 1 of government renewal was intended to do an inventory of GNWT programs while phase 2 was meant to look at how those programs are funded. Can the Minister start off today by informing this House of the current status on government renewal? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there's a lot riding on government renewal as far as fiscal sustainability is concerned. You can look through Hansard and find numerous occasions where the response in regards to deficits or concerns about spending where Ministers have responded well, we're doing government renewal, we're partaking in government renewal. So we're really relying on this exercise here. So I'm wondering if the Minister can speak to how the GNWT intends to measure the success of this government renewal exercise? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I guess my next question, then, would be when do Members on this side get to kind of see the fruits of the labour, so to speak, of the GNWT with in regards to phase 2? What is the expected timeline that they are working towards? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this Assembly, Northerners have navigated crisis after crisis that started with a global pandemic. But during COVID, some monumental things happened to support residents' basic needs. This government payrolled income assistance clients, implemented harm reduction programs, found housing solutions for vulnerable residents, and equitably distributed laptops to students for access to education. These are huge, Mr. Speaker. And they happened in short order.
This bold action, and a need for fiscal recovery, offered a path forward to a common-sense approach to...
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I move that this committee recommends that the Department of Education, Culture and Employment build a northernspecific model of coordinated wraparound services for NWT schools. Thank you.
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 164)
Sure. Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, whenever we review the budgets for Housing Northwest Territories, I find that I get very frustrated. And one of the reasons for that is we never have a really good indication of what kind of investment we're making in housing and what specifically we're getting for that, especially when we're talking to residents of the Northwest Territories.
And so one example of that is if you look at the 20232024 Capital Estimates, the capital estimates were $35 million, 35 five, and then when you look at the revised estimates, all of a sudden we have 136...
Madam Chair, I move that this committee recommends that the Department of Education, Culture and Employment draft aspirational legislation for its next iteration of the Education Act that takes a holistic, traumainformed, and culturally-responsive approach to education that is accountable to all NWT communities, its residents and, most of all, its youth. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, that Committee Report 7219(2), Standing Committee on Social Development Report on Bill 75: Council for Women and Gender Diversity Act, be received and adopted by the Assembly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, the Standing Committee on Social Development has advocated for improvements to education in the Northwest Territories over the life of the Assembly. While Bill 81 represents just phase 1 of the department's proposed improvements to education, which focus on operational and administrative amendments, the committee, along with overwhelming public concurrence, was disappointed in the phased approach. The phased approach lacked a thorough engagement process in which to inform meaningful change to address the uneven and poor state of education in the territory.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, your Standing Committee on Social Development is pleased to provide its report on Bill 75, Council for Women and Gender Diversity Act.
Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the Member for Great Slave, that Committee report 7219(2), Standing Committee on Social Development report on Bill 75: Council for Women and Gender Diversity Act, be deemed read and printed in Hansard in its entirety. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
