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 want to start by acknowledging the comments of the Member and let her know that I am looking into kind of where that differentiation is, and how we can be a lot more clear about this for residents.
So, Mr. Speaker, there are some transitional or bridging programs that students can qualify for -- or may qualify for funding for under the SFA program, and that's for ones that earn credit toward a certificate, diploma, degree. And so in that example that the Member gave during their statement, there are paramedic and medical -- or emergency medical...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member reflected in their statement about the fact that I was just in Toronto at our meeting with Ministers from across the country. This was something that I raised at the table, was the uncertainty that repetitive kind of announcements of new allotments has created and also the late announcements of what our 2026 will look like. So I have asked for more advanced notice so that we know what levels will look like and more forward-looking outlook so we're not finding out year after year in that same timeframe. Thank you.
Thank you so much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I just wanted to be respectful of trying to keep my time low.
So in the implementation plan in the mandate agreement, it starts with identify first the made-in-the North degree, so the very first one for Aurora College. They identified that in the spring to Members of this House and have subsequently identified it publicly as well as their Bachelor of business administration specializing in Indigenous governance, which we're all very excited about and very excited to see that come.
They are currently working on their process with Campus Alberta...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I heard the Member asked to sit down. I'm always happy to sit down with a Member. Frequently, if I'm in town, I'm generally in my office, and I'm always on my phone, so very happy to have time either on the phone or in person with the Member. I have regular meetings with what would be considered industry or independent panelists who otherwise referred to as Chamber of Mines. I have a meeting with them today. Very happy to inform the Member or sit down and have a conversation with the Member about what we talk about.
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 very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, within that critical path, there are some items that Education, Culture and Employment is able to fund from within through money that they retained through the MOU that they did have with Aurora College, and there are additional items that would require additional funding. Thank you.
