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, our programs are accredited, so they go through a process of accreditation before they can be offered, before they can be deemed programs that people turn around and then can use in life. We want to make sure that we are being safe, that we have appropriate training for people across the territory, and make sure that we're offering a program that is competitive with the south. If the Member has a specific concern about a specific program, I'm more than happy to follow up on that with him, with the college, and make sure that I can provide him with...
So, Mr. Speaker, it's called the Apprenticeship Trade and Occupational Certification Advisory Board, so ATOC Board, and they are still very much in play. Their current board all has current membership, and I actually rely on them quite a bit and source them for their expert opinions. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, while I said to the Member that we don't want to do strategies left, right and center, and make new door props for departments to use, that we want to make sure that we're using our public servants effectively and efficiently, we still do have programs, and we still do have metrics in our programs. So continuing to use our data that we do have is incredibly important.
Mr. Speaker, I'd also say that it's really important that we are very clear in our communication that we have accessible messaging as a government in all of our economic initiatives that we're...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, the support of a healthcare worker on those assessments is a change that was proposed by the federal government. We continue to go about doing our applications with education bodies in the same way and making sure that at the Department of Education, Culture and Employment that we're providing the support letters that our education bodies need to be able to facilitate that application process. So that support that we've always provided is still maintained and still provided. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the support assistant initiative funding is strictly to be used for classroom assistants, also known as education assistants or support assistants for classrooms. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, and thank you for the clarification from the Member. And so what we'd be looking for there is really demand. So there's a number of different trades that are available across the country, a number of different trades programming that is available to students in the Northwest Territories, and if we had the demand from students and from people wanting to seek that kind of particular -- oh my goodness, I've lost the word that I'm looking for, Mr. Speaker, I'm sorry. Certification. Thank you. If we had the demand for it, then we would be able to pursue that...
Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document: Operating Plans for Northwest Territories Education Bodies for the 2025-2026 School Year Ending June 30th, 2026, Volumes 1 and 2. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, we are in the process right now of finalizing a What We Heard report from the inclusive schooling review. That report will be out by the end of this calendar year and by the beginning of next calendar year, we will have a response to the recommendations from the government that I'm very happy to share and want to ensure that it's publicly accessible. And I fully intend from that and from the recommendations that come from that to have funding requests that I will in turn be working with my colleagues on. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, absolutely BC uses a different model than Alberta. So they have the foundational skills assessment, which is done in grades 4 and 7, and the graduation literacy and numeracy assessments done in grades 10 and 12. These assessment tools focus on literacy and numeracy rather than being subject-specific which means it takes out the act of memorization and really celebrates the act of learning in this process.
In the Northwest Territories, Alberta's grades 6 and 9 tests ended in 2023. Alberta diploma exams will be phased out by 2026. And BC's...
