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. So they do submit an operating budget annually. They -- for example, if they need new funding above and beyond where they're at for new programming, like, for example, we've talked about, you know, the Indigenous languages diploma, new funding would have to go through the FMB process within the GNWT. And I'll stop there, Madam Chair. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document: Government of the Northwest Territories Response to Committee Report 13-20(1), Report on the Review of the 2023-2024 Annual Report of the Northwest Territories Official Languages Commissioner. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Debates of
, 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 45)
Thank you, Madam Chair. It was not a commitment made on the floor of the House. It was a commitment made to the people who put their applications in because they had applied before the deadline last year and so wanted to honour the fact that they had done that. And I think at the end of the day, it's important to reflect on the fact that no matter how this program rolls out, there are always going to be people that are disappointed and incredibly emotional about this. There are people who are in situations where they're looking for certainty as far as family reunification. There are people who...
Debates of
, 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 45)
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. So, Madam Chair, the -- sorry, I'm just going to pull it up here. Thank you.
So what we saw in the 2024-2025 Main Estimates and the big reason for the decrease is tied directly to fiscal sustainability reductions. So we had a reduction in travel for the official languages board specifically. In addition to that, we saw reduction in the contributions to Indigenous communications societies as well as a reduction on travel for a regional linguistic position. And then we also saw a reduction in the funding afforded for translator training. And then in addition to...
Debates of
, 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 45)
Thank you, Madam Chair. It's $2.2 million.
Debates of
, 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 45)
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, as in regards to the federal government specifically, my advocacy and actions have been through letters and through phone calls. Thank you.
Debates of
, 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 45)
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I'm always happy to do as much as we possibly can in public, and I would hope that committee would be willing to do this meeting in public. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, in the context of Northern Studies 30, that course was a made-in-the-NWT course. It was developed in relationship and partnership with Indigenous governments. In regards to the other courses and the adaptation of them from a BC curriculum to an NWT curriculum, so that would be the final ones that I listed off there, you know, environmental science or earth sciences and the science for citizens, those courses there, it has a team of teachers from education bodies across the territory that work on adapting it. And so I've had the opportunity to walk...
Debates of
, 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 45)
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. So, Madam Chair, our conversations with the federal government have largely been at increasing numbers across the board. Certainly, as other jurisdictions, we have not seen success in that one. One of the things that we are going to do this year, once we do our allocations for 2025 in preparation for 2026, we are going to work with stakeholders to develop a plan of if our nominee program looks the same as it does this year with 150 allocations, then we want to ensure that we're being as strategic as possible, and so one of the pieces of work we need to do is...
