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, so I committed to the Member for Range Lake in question period earlier today to go back to the department and get further information. I'd be happy to share that information with the Member for Yellowknife Centre as well. Thank you.
Debates of
, 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 70)
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, that was originally built before 2004, and it needs to be replaced with an accessible toilet because it is not currently accessible and aligns with our safety priorities of the Assembly. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there are some students whose applications are late, some students whose applications are on time, and staff within the department do their best to process all applications as quickly as possible. Thank you.
Debates of
, 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 70)
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, the aggressive deliverables that we are putting together in order to get this done and to get it done in collaboration with our partners and making sure that it's done with integrity and respectfully puts our deliverables into 2027. And so I need to ensure that we're going back to our partners and that we all agree on the schedule and all agree to the terms. And I know that I'm asking a lot of everybody, but I share the Member's passion, and I share the Member's ambition to get this work done and to make sure that we are reporting certainty to...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there's not an expectation that this would happen because it's not something that we account and fund for. I'm always happy to go back to the department and find out what kind of an economic cost this would have to our student financial assistance. That said, Mr. Speaker, it is not expected that student financial assistance covers the entire cost of post-secondary for our students. Thank you.
Debates of
, 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 70)
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, our goal this term is to see this project get done. We are resourcing it as we need and as we go. For specifically for the mineral administration and registry system, we're working closely with the Department of Finance because it requires us to migrate first a piece of software called the LTOS, which is the Land Tenure Optimization System. And then from there, we're able to work on the Mineral Administration and Registry System. It's important to note, Mr. Chair, that we're unable to program this system until our regulations are done. And so it's...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, in regards to the Member's first question about the voluntary fees, a letter did go out to daycare and day home service providers in April of this year explaining how they can go about using that, and I also was able to reiterate that in my recent meeting with the NWT ECA as well.
In regards to the salaries for daycare and day homes, what we were able to do is, with our best data, look at the average salaries across the board that people are collecting and make sure that they were on par, and the work that we did earlier this year was in order...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think this is critical information that we're going to get back from families in regards to the inclusive schooling review. We had a tremendous amount of families, of educators, of students participate in this review and explain their experience and their needs to the department of education, and I fully intend to use that information to form our next steps. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, we took on five additional staffing positions this summer in order to work to accommodate that, and throughout the year, while we prepare for the surge of -- that we hope to see again in 2026, we'll make sure that we're reviewing the efficiencies of the process to ensure that we're doing our part to ensure that we're prepared because we want to see students go to post-secondary, and we want to see more and more students using post-secondary. Thank you.
