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, Premier -- sorry, thank you, Madam Chair. I'm going to start off by pointing out a couple things that I heard from across the floor.
So this motion deletes $5,250,000 from the main estimates for ECE. It does not speak to Aurora College. It does not speak to deferral. It simply deletes the money. This is not a place this on hold. It's not deferring education, culture and employment's budget until after the briefing with Aurora College next week. It is a deletion.
The other comment in regards to reading about it on Cabin Radio, all of us did receive a public service...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So the early childhood infrastructure fund is solely for builds. It can be used to renovate spaces, and it can be used for new builds as well. And we cannot use it for wage subsidies. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I certainly see the value of trades across the Northwest Territories and want to ensure that we're always looking at more ways to attract people within this field. That's why we also have the SNAP program where we also support wage subsidies for high school students to get involved. And so I have not been contacted by employers who are feeling that this is particularly the area where they're struggling. There are certainly other ideas that have been afforded to me, and I invite all opportunities to chat with anybody about our trades opportunities...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we've heard a little bit from the other side of the House on the importance of tracking results and measuring our successes today, so I appreciate the Member's question. So recently, education, culture and employment released a two-year extension to its apprenticeship, trade, and occupation certification strategy. Part of this strategy does have a performance measurement planb and so at the end of our two-year extension, those performance measures will be released publicly, and we will be able to track and see how far we've come. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it's not going to be one size fits all for what that looks like across the territory. The 300 spaces are certainly clear across the Northwest Territories. For example, we are repurposing modular classrooms into ELCC spaces. We are looking at, you know, how I can work with some of my colleagues on some of their infrastructure builds in order to use minimal funds to pull some spaces out of there. Some of them, of course, will of course end up being day homes, and so in people's homes. And so it's not a matter of 300 daycare spaces in this type of...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, education, culture and employment, through its regional service centres, engages with communities, the federal government, training program providers, as well as other GNWT departments to discuss their specific community needs. In addition to that, in the Sahtu there are annual career fairs. There's also our small community employment fund that designated community authorities can tap into, and thanks to Regular Members, was increased. And then in addition to that, there's also financial supports that are provided through the community labour market...
Debates of
, 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 45)
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. So, Madam Chair, the increase in our budgeted items actually goes from $43,859,000 to $44,583,000. The difference in the actuals of what we spent in 2023-2024 was even significantly less than what we had originally budgeted in 2023-2024, and the reason for that is because of the delayed implementation of the new income assistance program. Thank you.
Debates of
, 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 45)
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. So absolutely, Madam Chair, I don't think it would be a shock to anybody in this room that I am obsessed with the SNAP program. And the Member is 100 percent right, I want to see this program in not just every region. I would love us to be overambitious and see it in every single community because I think at the end of the day, we would -- it would serve the entire territory in such a positive way.
So this program, really, over the course of the last four years has exploded in numbers, and that is in gratitude to the staff at ECE that have really hit the...
Debates of
, 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 45)
It's literally sitting on my desk upstairs, Madam Chair. I don't want to say a number and get it wrong on the floor, but I would be happy to ensure that I have those numbers with me when I am in front of committee with Aurora College next week. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I agree with the Member and had the privilege and honour of working with the Member on that legislation from the other side of the House. And this -- the work there really is to determine what pieces of legislation are prioritized and go first and as identified within the legislative priorities of this Assembly, this piece of legislation has been identified as needing to be updated and be reflective of where we're at in the territory, be reflective of what the Member did bring up, Article 12 from UNDRIP, and making sure that our legislation is in...
