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, so some of this has to do with the change that's recently occurred within Aurora College where students would be able to be supported to take learning in a digitally and online environment but supported with wraparound services through Aurora College.
In addition, Mr. Speaker, later on this week, I have the honour of having conversations with my colleagues on the other side of the House in regards to some upcoming suggested approaches to adult learning and basic education for the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, some of this work has recently just happened where Aurora College is transitioning a lot of their programs online in recognition that a lot of students do want to stay in their home community when they are pursuing some education so that they have those home supports as well and understanding that not every city or every place is where students want to go.
In addition to the college access program and the occupations and college access program at Aurora College and their online offerings, there's also the University of Alberta's transition year...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have to start off by saying I share the Member's frustration and the community's frustration on this one very much. Mr. Speaker, we were anticipating shipping of these units this previous winter road season. We had worked diligently with the Department of Infrastructure and the company to get this done and were then advised in February of 2025 that the contractor's transportation company would no longer be able to deliver the units during that winter road season, the one that we have just, just passed. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize an important cultural milestone. The NorthWords NWT Writers Festival is celebrating its 20th anniversary: Twenty years of championing northern voices and building community through storytelling.
Launched in 2006, NorthWords was born from a vision to bring Canada's most celebrated literary voices to the North and to elevate the powerful stories already being told in our own communities. That vision was realized by dedicated literary champions, including Judith Drinnan, Cathy Jewison, Doris McCann, Larry Adamson, and Richard Van Camp. With early support from...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm absolutely agreeing with the Member that this was an equity issue, that we want to keep people in the North, and that we want to ensure that people can also add to their families and not be concerned about their applications. This is one of those frustrating parts of administering a program on behalf of another level of government, and so I need to see what my parameters are within our ability here in the territory to make adjustments to this extended lever part of the policy. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the question from the Member. Currently, within the policy, there is a leave provision in there and that is something that I am currently exploring with the department given the existing parameters of the program. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. In the re-release of the program this year, one thing that quickly became apparent was that there was concern over people whose work permits would be expiring in January and February of 2026. That quickly became apparent. And so while there is never an intention to design a program that has a gap, certainly I do know that going into next year that we have more people interested in the program than we currently have spaces for. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, over the course of the next week, confirmation testing will be done in both of the schools and until we determine what those results are and then also from there do some exploration as to what the source of the issue is, I would have -- it would be impossible for me to say kind of what the next steps are for remediating that and fixing that until I know what the issue is and if there is, in fact, a longstanding challenge there that needs to be fixed. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, all of our schools' water systems were tested, and two of the schools came back as needing confirmation testing and so, proactively, the departments of education, health and social services, and the school board, worked together to make sure that that water is not used right now for drinking or for cooking purposes. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in it regards to part-time studies, the Department of Education, Culture and Employment does fund students up to $880 per course with a maximum of $8,800 per year with the idea that beyond that, they're probably actually potentially looking at more of full-time studies, depending on what they're taking.
In the end of the previous Assembly, there were steps taken to increase our student financial assistance, and especially student financial assistance for Indigenous students in the territory, and also changed the number of semesters that they were...
