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, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, my questions are again for the Minister of Health and Social Services.
I questioned the Minister during this sitting in regards to bursaries for students who want to partake in the Aurora College nursing program, and I was happy to learn and to hear that Indigenous students and northern students are both open to access bursary programs for the Aurora College nursing program. So I'm wondering, though, if the Minister will allow southern students to access northern nursing bursaries to fill the remaining spots in the Aurora College nursing program to...
Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, one of the things that Health and Social Services introduced this year from headquarters are mental health subscription boxes. But these boxes, which I believe in September the theme of the box was suicide prevention, these boxes are not made available to people in healthcare centres or in hospitals. And so I'm wondering if that is a change that the Minister is willing to make? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services.
In June of this year, I asked the Minister a series of questions in regards to people who presented at our hospitals and healthcare centres with suicide attempts or suicide ideations. And the Minister committed to taking my comments and concerns and asks around the supports that are provided to people away and into account and considering them. And so I'm wondering what changes have occurred to supports or responses to suicide attempts at our healthcare centres and hospitals in...
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...
