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 so much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, the efforts under the legislation for a Polytechnic University Act have not been paused. That work is still underway. There is a matter of the accreditation process with the Campus Alberta Quality Assurance -- thank you -- Quality Council that needs to happen in order for the legislation to go through and for us to be ready for that. And Aurora College has hit the first milestone where CAQC has traveled to the Northwest Territories, and they are now working with CAQC on the requirements as part of that process. Thank you.
Debates of
, 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 81)
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, huge thank you to BC on that. They were able to support us when we were looking for something that we could take off the shelf and adapt to our NWT context. So we were able to implement that. And at this point, I have nothing new to report as we continue to implement that across the territory. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member. I know he was busy at work at these engagement sessions last week. I would say one of the things that's really critically important here is the timelines of these projects might be different as well as the business and trades needs of these projects as well. And so while there might be similarities, I think what we might find is that we might be able to be a lot more specific and a lot more purposeful in keeping these two projects separate. But I am certainly happy to work with the Member to see how we can kind of capitalize on...
Debates of
, 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 81)
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, over the course of the last month I've met with three different post-secondary institutions from the NWT, and I am keen to continue those relationships. Thank you.
Debates of
, 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 81)
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, none of the funding required in order to mitigate lead in drinking water is found within this budget. That would come forward in the form of a supplementary appropriation. Thank you.
Debates of
, 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 81)
I do, Mr. Chair.
Debates of
, 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 81)
Thank you so much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, that is called voluntary funding, and there is an entire web page on the ECE website that is dedicated to it and explaining to child care providers how to use voluntary funding. It is within the federal agreement that people can use voluntary funding but the crux of that is that it needs to be voluntary. At this point, there aren't additional mandatory fees. And that's one of the flexibilities, for example, that was discussed at our recent federal-territorial-provincial meeting. With voluntary funding, the important part of that is if a family comes...
Debates of
, 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 81)
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So absolutely, the investment in Aurora College, as the Member says, all our eggs in one basket, was something that, you know, has grown over decades. And so now we're in a position where we're wanting to change the way that Aurora College operates in the Northwest Territories and change the expectation of this government on the way that it operates, and so that's the transition we find ourselves in right now. So part of that transition is both making sure that they've got the legislation that they need in order to continue to create that distance between us so...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, here in the Northwest Territories we certainly have a unique governance model that's found in one place across Canada, and that is here in the Northwest Territories where we really have a decentralized system here, and so what you find is that ECE sets the overall JK to 12 framework and funds the system while regional education bodies deliver programming and employ school staff. So what that essentially means as per the Education Act is the department just decides what the what might be, so what is our overall goal, which might be in this case, you know...
