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, Mr. Speaker. Rambo may very well be the most famous dog in this House.
Mr. Speaker, last year the projected cost of the Giant Mine cleanup jumped from 1 to $4.38 billion. While this project is being overseen by the federal government, the GNWT is still a coproponent. It is still in our back yard and it still carries with it high expectations for NWT benefit retention.
Remediating the mine involves things like building a water treatment plant, filling pits, taking down buildings, and containing arsenic dust underground. Accomplishing this will put high demand on industries like waste...
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 145)
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. I will pass the floor other to another colleague.
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 145)
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I should get started at ten minutes, not seven; I was hoping you wouldn't notice that.
My next question is in regards to the wage subsidies for SNAP students and apprentices. Are the wage subsidies for SNAP and apprentice students the same? And there's also been talk of wanting to see SNAP students expanded into all the communities in the Northwest Territories. And is this budget built to actually support that type of increase in SNAP students across the territory, or is this budget actually built to support a certain number of SNAP students in the...
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 144)
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I'm sure that a lot of the changes that happen from here on in for a few years in regards to education will be largely driven by the Education Act amendments. And so I'm wondering where that funding is coming from; is that found in corporate management and not here? And I'm wondering if the Minister can provide clarity on that one. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister responsible for Housing NWT. Mr. Speaker, the Housing NWT prohibits homebased business from being in public housing. This works against four separate mandate items of the Government of the Northwest Territories, including one for increasing employment in small communities, which specifically says "amend the NWT Housing Corporation policies to allow appropriate homebased business opportunities within their units." It also goes against at least five Calls for Justice from the MMIWG.
So I'm wondering will the Minister...
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 144)
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, my first question is in regards to education renewal and innovation. This line item appears to have come down a little bit. And my concern is that in the following fiscal year, hopefully the 20th Assembly which will be part of that fiscal year, will be able to dive right into the education renewal. And so I'm wondering if the education renewal, in fact, some of it comes out of here or is it largely centered within the corporate management section? Thank you.
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 144)
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Yes, it was that $5.6 million fund towards SFA that I was looking for. I'm wondering if there is any conversation, given the changes that have happened to income security and student financial assistance, if there's been any conversation with the federal government to increase that amount especially given that one of the most exciting changes that was made to income security was this opportunity for Indigenous students to really go for unlimited terms of education if that's what they so desire. Thank you.
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 144)
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I'm going to work really hard not to repeat anything that's been said so far.
So first I wanted to start off with so the Minister indicated that the intent is to kind of go out and do some public relations in regards to this new program later on in the year with the intent of kind of looking at June or July. My concern is that revamps to income security include student financial assistance and student financial assistance has a deadline of June. And so I'm wondering how students will learn about changes to the program in advance of them actually...
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 144)
Yeah, thank you, Madam Chair. I wanted to move on to the infrastructure fund. And given that the goal of ECE is to increase spaces by 300 children in the life of the federal agreement, I'm wondering why we're not seeing an increase to this fund given that especially what we're seeing from lessons learned from Quebec was an urge to increase capacity upfront. Thank you.
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 144)
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, we're in a bit of an interesting jurisdiction where we are also very reliant not only on notforprofit day cares, but we have a lot of day homes. When my kids went to child care during the day, all three of them went to day home providers, which was wonderful. I still have relationships with those people and adore them. My kids spent more time with those people than they did with me. And so I'm wondering how does it work within the territory as far as these wage topups? Is it provided to both day cares and day home providers, and how does that division...
