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, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, the reason I started this conversation by asking to speak to the Minister of Health and Social Services was because I wanted to find out if there was an avenue for funding for what youth are looking for in their communities potentially through there. So the department of health has their suicide prevention fund, and currently to access that fund, you have to be with an NGO, you have to be with an Indigenous government. There's a list of about four or five places or people, rather, that can access that. But youth specifically, as individuals...
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services.
Madam Speaker, the Department of Health and Social Services put together the Child and Youth Care Counsellor Program, and this is a program that came out of actually talking to youth and finding out what they wanted and really having that conversation about mental health and how to fill that need. Given where this program is at now, I'm wondering what kind of work Health and Social Services is doing to evaluate this program? Thank you.
WHEREAS Tabled Document 68119(2), Government of the Northwest Territories Response to Committee Report 2619(2): Report on the Child and Family Services Act – Lifting Children, Youth and Families: An All of Territory Approach to Keeping Families Together, has been tabled in this House;
NOW THEREFORE I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Great Slave, that Tabled Document 68119(2), Government of the Northwest Territories Response to Committee Report 2619(2): Report on the Child and Family Services Act – Lifting Children, Youth and Families: An All of Territory...
Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, does the Minister set the agenda for each of the meetings, or does the Minister work with the youth to set the agenda for the meeting? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, we put this together today to present to the government for immediate responses that the government is able to do to provide to communities across the Northwest Territories. We look to Tuktoyaktuk and the example that they set by sitting down and meeting with youth, and youth immediately called on actions that pertained to leaders in community, so being able to sit down and speak to role models and, more importantly, also spoke to activities that youth could immediately access to stay busy and find healthy ways to sit down together to we...
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, other the last few years, nurses have shared the impact of unsupported work environments and critical staffing shortages on their morale and incentive to continue working in the North. And when our healthcare workers suffer, our residents suffer. Residents experience decline in healthcare, long wait lists, and reduced program availability, which all have direct negative impacts on the health and wellbeing of residents. This is felt especially by those people who live in remote and small communities who already receive inequitable healthcare.
Environmental liabilities represent the costs required to remediate contaminated sites for which the GNWT is responsible.
The 20202021 public accounts reported 277 contaminated sites with a total liability of $68 million. This liability is further broken down according to seven types of sites, such as "abandoned mines" and "landfills."
For years, committee has advocated for more transparency on the GNWT's contaminated sites. In 2018, committee recommended14 that the GNWT develop an online inventory modeled on the federal government's Federal Contaminated Sites Inventory...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister simply tell us how many agreements NTPC has entered into with resource development projects in the Northwest Territories? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Infrastructure.
Traditional sources of public financing alone won't be enough to meet the infrastructure or future infrastructure needs of the NWT, which are large and continue to climb. So my question for the Minister is what efforts are underway to find new sources of finance; for example, increasing the number of power users, tapping private sector funding and expertise through investments or P3s, accessing federal dollars, improving efficiency of existing infrastructure and making smart investments in new...
Madam Chair, I move that this committee defer further consideration of the estimates for the Department of Finance at this time. Thank you, Madam Chair.
