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, I would like to thank the Member for Great Slave for pointing out to me that I've got a little bit of extra homework to do on this transfer because this action tracker currently lives over in ECE and needs to be transferred over to ITI. So I will see that that gets done. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker; that's dangerous precedent setting.
Mr. Speaker, so ITI has funded the Innovate Centre over the course of the last few years just over, I believe, $420,000. There's different funding avenues that might be available to the Innovate Centre, so I definitely suggest that they follow up with ITI specifically. Examples of potential funding pots for that that would be -- that already exist are the SEED funding avenue. There's also the large arts grants, depending on types of programming that they're looking to offer to residents of Inuvik. And there may even be...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have -- we've maintained the program as it was over in ECE because it had recently gone through some shifts we're responding to artists, and we continue to treat it as a living program. And so we are just at the tail end of continuing to do some of that work in order to make sure that we're being responsive to artists in the territory, that we're being responsive to business owners, and we continue to make sure that the programs are also listening to what people are looking for. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, where -- well, education is a great example where a lot of their staff are actually based regionally but whenever there is job applications for within the department that do go out across the government, I know that we as Cabinet Ministers encourage departments to use the remote work policy so that, really, people can be based across the territory if appropriate. So I can confirm for the Member that that work is done.
As far as Aurora College, as the Member knows, the operations of that really do fall under the president and the chair of the board...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can certainly have a conversation. As the Member has outlined, with the chair we end up having quite a few meetings or phone conversations, and I would be happy to bring up the Innovate Centre. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is normally information that would come out publicly in our grants and contributions reporting, and so anything that is fair game for the public, I am more than happy to table here in the House as well. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there's definitely questions being posed in looking for solutions as part of the potential lifting of the moratorium. One of the concerns that we have certainly heard is ensuring that fairness to exploration license holders is maintained and addressed in this process. There are a number of licenses that would be set to expire potentially right up against when the moratorium could be lifted. And so it would be essential to ensure that a solution is figured out before that happens. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my colleague, the Minister for Strategic Infrastructure, Energy, and Supply Chains, sits on a steering committee for the Mackenzie Valley Highway, and making sure that people are ready for this project is part of their conversations. I also understand that this month, the committee -- or sorry, the Minister's Department for Strategic Infrastructure, Energy, and Supply Chains will be doing their engagement plan to start working with Indigenous governments on what that readiness will look like, and so I can confirm to the Member that this work is...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, the programs within the GNWT extend beyond the walls, so to say, of ITI. ITI has programs, for example, like its community futures program that issues different loan arrangements. It also has its SEED funding where you can have -- or apply for different levels of loans -- not loans, sorry, grants for governments -- or jeez, I am going to start over. I think it's -- it's Friday, Mr. Speaker. SEED funding, which is grants for businesses. They can either do things like upscale their business. They can expand their business. Because this is going...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can assure the Member that I have not stopped talking about the Mackenzie Delta LNG opportunity. I've talked to federal Ministers about it, Alberta Ministers about it. I've talked to the major projects office. I've talked to the Canada Infrastructure Bank. I've talked to businesses about it, ambassadors, Consul Generals. And so I am definitely along with some of my Cabinet colleagues consistently making sure people both have the pre-feasibility study and idea of the economic potential that exists there. Having those conversations alongside the chair of...
