Caitlin Cleveland

Member Kam Lake

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.

Kam Lake Electoral District

Committees

Caitlin Cleveland
Kam Lake
Constituency Office
Phone
Minister's Office

Yellowknife NT X1A 2L9
Canada

P.O. Box
1320
Email
Phone
Extension
11124

Statements in Debates

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 151)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm wondering if the Minister will commit to investigating what can be done here a little bit farther. There are avenues and I think easy accessible avenues where more exit interviews can be done for GNWT employees. I think that there is more that can be done to give other residents who don't work for the government feedback on why they're leaving. And another interesting category that I find is people who are saying I've decided that I plan to leave within the next X number of years. One such example is someone who reach out to me and said we've decided we...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 151)

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. No, I would also like to extend a huge amount of gratitude to the Minister and his department on this one, this one, and as far as paying credit where credit is due and being able to say some nice things to the other side of the House, especially when we pick on them every day.

We did the same type of amendment in Bill 40, the Medical Professions Act from social development in conjunction with the Minister of Health and Social Services and her staff, and that is where this amendment and, really, the implementation of it in a lot of our work has come from. And...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 151)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Committee heard that workforce development and succession planning needed to be more inclusive of Indigenous employees within the GNWT. The GNWT's Indigenous Employment Plans aim to "improve retention of Indigenous employees through professional development and career progression." Under the current model, the Department of Finance will create a succession planning guide for Indigenous employees, and each department will work with HR to develop an individual succession plan.

However, public comments addressed a need to share information about transfer assignments and...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 151)

Thank you, Madam Chair. I didn't get my hand up fast enough there. No, I wanted to speak to this one because this is definitely one of the most important recommendations as far as what we heard from child care providers across the territory. One of the biggest concerns, especially from not for profit organizations, is their ability to keep operating when we have, in previous legislation, set a limit to what that cost increase can be for what they are charging parents on an annual basis, and then we are coming in and we are setting a wage grid that will show, or dictate rather, what the workers...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 151)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, let's face the facts. Last year the NWT's population dropped by over 200 people with over 900 people leaving the territory. Thankfully, this decline was offset by about 300 births and 400 newcomers. Last year this House passed a motion calling for a strategy to match Canada's population growth. Every Regular Member voted in support. In its response, the GNWT all but rejected this House's call for a coordinated robust plan to increase the NWT population. The GNWT pointed instead to its growing the NWT strategy, an ineffective and outdated strategy that...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 151)

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I move that this committee recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories include in its vision of a sustainable child care system information on the following:

How to support the early learning and child care sector in its transition;

How to embrace NWT realities without disadvantaging any of the existing parts of the child care sector;

Considerations for licensing and supporting that proportion of the child care sector constituted by forprofit day homes.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 150)

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the Member for Great Slave, that Committee Report 5019(2), Standing Committee on Social Development Report on Strengthening Community Supports, Lifting Youth Voices: Recommendations on Suicide Prevention, be received by the Assembly and referred to Committee of the Whole. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 150)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Your Standing Committee on Social Development is pleased to provide its report Strengthening Community Supports, Lifting Youth Voices: Recommendations on Suicide Prevention, and commends it to the House.

Thank you to the youth who shared courageously on suicide prevention with the Standing Committee on Social Development. We heard you. We respect you. We believe in you. From you, we learn and take your lead. We hope you see your thoughts, ideas, and perspectives, and the resources and supports you asked for, reflected in the following report and its recommendations.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 150)

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And, Mr. Speaker, I appreciate all of the references that the Minister gave to different areas of the ITI website, of the Finance website, where this information can be found. I think this speaks to and, you know, with all due respect, I think this speaks to the need for a consolidated response from the government. Even when I was going through and kind of creating my questions for today and figuring out how do I go about continuing this conversation in this House, I'm looking at and reading through press releases from the GNWT in regards to procurement...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 150)

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Minister for that response. And I can also say that in conversation with the Minister during our other work time that the Minister's been very helpful at kind of providing a fulsome response of what all the department is working on. The problem that I have is that I don't have concrete answers to be able to give the people that I serve about what those specific changes are going to look like.

In the month of August and in the summer, there's about eight sitting days that we'll get to sit through roughly before we're done, and we're...