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. I'd be happy to work with the departments and working groups in order to put something together as an all-of-government response for leadership from the Sahtu. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the Members bringing this up and, you know, I remember when the red alert was issued back in 2017. I was cheering Bob on. I've long been a fan of former Premier McLeod. And I remember the crux of that being no decisions about the North without the North. And that's something that we still stand by on this side of the House. Meeting with industry is something that I do on a regular basis and, Mr. Speaker, acknowledging how important it is that we as Cabinet work together and there's never a one silver bullet or there's never one issue...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the questions from the Member. So the intention is to have -- and working very closely with the Department of Infrastructure to have the Colville Lake modulars move to the territory long before winter road season starts, and so we're looking at doing that this fall, and having them set up in the Northwest Territories and ready to get onto this coming winter road season. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the policy intentions document is a very important part because it's really important to give people, residents, the opportunity to feed into the process before the regulations are fully drafted and really baked in. And that was something that was requested by multiple residents and concerns that were brought forward that residents have the opportunity to feed into this process.
So in response to the Member's questions, so the draft regulations will be ready for section 35 consultation in winter of 2027. So once we get the feedback from the policy intentions...
Thank you so much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, industry, tourism and investment staff do get the money out the door. The question then becomes whether or not proponents can spend it in the calendar year that they have, and there's different reasons why that could be impacted. It could be impacted by their ability to stack with other funding that they want to stack with based on commodity prices. It can also be impacted by events here in the territory. Like I explained before, wildfires had an impact on people's ability to spend some of those dollars as well. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The quick answer is yes. And the added information to that is that we have until the end of the year to use those spaces, and so this is something that the Department of Education, Culture and Employment is going to have to work on in very short order.
I'd also just like to reflect on the work that staff have done in order to support this program for the year. They've been working, you know, on their heels all year and being very responsive and as responsive as possible with the amount of requests that have come in. So I just want to thank them for their incredible work...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, if a person is doing a training program that is less than 12 continuous weeks or is kind of more in tune with workforce development training, there are programs that are available through the labour side through workforce development. And so depending on what the program might be, there is that side of things. And there also is the student financial assistance that's really focused on certificates, diplomas, and the degree funding area. So we do have a whole breadth of programs that students can access. But the really key part about this is we...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Education, culture and employment's currently working on the What We Heard report in order to gather all that information and be able to publish it for everybody to be able to see what feedback we were receiving. I can say or share with the Member that just in emails that I've received from people across the territory who are living here and wanting to participate in the nominee program that responses really vary. People's circumstances are so unique, and, really, people are looking for that certainty and they want to call the North home. And so I expect that...
Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Hay River North, that Bill 28, An Act to Amend the Student Financial Assistance Act, No. 2, be ready for the second time.
The proposed, An Act to Amend the Student Financial Assistance Act, No. 2, would amend the student loan fund (also called the revolving loan limit) in the schedule of the act from $45 million to $55 million. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
