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, Mr. Speaker. I wish to present to the House Bill 28, An Act to Amend the Student Financial Assistance Act, No. 2, to be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have a close working relationship with our education bodies. I meet with them multiple times a year. I'm meeting with them again in June. This has been a conversation on our agenda all year. It is a huge concern for both education bodies and myself. Those conversations will continue. This conversation has also happened with the NWTTA.
Mr. Speaker, one thing that is -- needs to be very clear here is the GNWT cannot afford to take on the programs that the federal government introduces and does not continue. When this program was introduced, and...
Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize an important cultural milestone. The NorthWords NWT Writers Festival is celebrating its 20th anniversary: Twenty years of championing northern voices and building community through storytelling.
Launched in 2006, NorthWords was born from a vision to bring Canada's most celebrated literary voices to the North and to elevate the powerful stories already being told in our own communities. That vision was realized by dedicated literary champions, including Judith Drinnan, Cathy Jewison, Doris McCann, Larry Adamson, and Richard Van Camp. With early support from...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm absolutely agreeing with the Member that this was an equity issue, that we want to keep people in the North, and that we want to ensure that people can also add to their families and not be concerned about their applications. This is one of those frustrating parts of administering a program on behalf of another level of government, and so I need to see what my parameters are within our ability here in the territory to make adjustments to this extended lever part of the policy. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the question from the Member. Currently, within the policy, there is a leave provision in there and that is something that I am currently exploring with the department given the existing parameters of the program. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. In the re-release of the program this year, one thing that quickly became apparent was that there was concern over people whose work permits would be expiring in January and February of 2026. That quickly became apparent. And so while there is never an intention to design a program that has a gap, certainly I do know that going into next year that we have more people interested in the program than we currently have spaces for. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, over the course of the next week, confirmation testing will be done in both of the schools and until we determine what those results are and then also from there do some exploration as to what the source of the issue is, I would have -- it would be impossible for me to say kind of what the next steps are for remediating that and fixing that until I know what the issue is and if there is, in fact, a longstanding challenge there that needs to be fixed. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, all of our schools' water systems were tested, and two of the schools came back as needing confirmation testing and so, proactively, the departments of education, health and social services, and the school board, worked together to make sure that that water is not used right now for drinking or for cooking purposes. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in it regards to part-time studies, the Department of Education, Culture and Employment does fund students up to $880 per course with a maximum of $8,800 per year with the idea that beyond that, they're probably actually potentially looking at more of full-time studies, depending on what they're taking.
In the end of the previous Assembly, there were steps taken to increase our student financial assistance, and especially student financial assistance for Indigenous students in the territory, and also changed the number of semesters that they were...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I know it's one that certainly straddles two departments but as infrastructure does -- or sorry, as education, culture and employment does not actually build our capital projects in the territory, I do work very closely with my colleagues on this House and would be more than happy to work with the Minister of Infrastructure on developing some information for the Member for the Sahtu. Thank you.
