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 can say that, yes, operating as a college requires that the institution be established in legislation. And as far as timelines, it really depends on how that work progresses and so I would love to report back on that progress to the Member. But currently, there is a quality assurance process that must be undertaken, and ECE is working closely with Dechinta through this process. Thank you.
Yes, Mr. Speaker, we are working to achieve a new multi-year funding agreement before the end of this current fiscal year. The Department of Education, Culture and Employment has had a great working relationship with Dechinta over the last decade, includes currently the two-year contribution agreement which the Member is talking about which concludes at the end of this fiscal year. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it's a 54-hour course that people without post-secondary education are required to complete in order to be considered certified under the new system and the new regulations. And so those 54 hours, if somebody works for a centre-based system, their operator determines if they are able to use centre-based time to do that. There is no difference in the amount that is paid to the centre. And then in addition for people who are day home operators, they receive two training days, and they're able to use that time to complete the course should they wish, and that...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, some of the changes that were made in the last term, one of them was the removal of productive choices because it was found that people were often doing the same type of productive choice over and over again and wasn't necessarily leading to something that was helping people at the end of the day achieve their employment or education goals.
One of the changes, however, that was made was the ability of people to keep more earned income, encouraging people to go and pursue additional opportunities, but certainly prepared to have more conversations...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when I received the letter from the Member, I did go through it line by line. I highlighted different sections of the letter and different pieces that were raised by the childcare provider, and membership fees was one of them and so that is something that I have put to the department and would be happy to loop back around once we've had the opportunity to look into that. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I certainly would hope so. There are 2.5 positions for economic development officers within Tlicho community, and the Tlicho communities also do have the Tlicho regional economic development working group that those economic development officers directly work with, and that is in support of the economic development strategy that was produced by the Tlicho government between 2022 and -- or for 2022 to 2027. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Yes, Mr. Speaker, we do have a regional office that does travel into communities and work specifically with the ED -- sorry, the economic development officers that are also funded by ITI that work within the community, and that is afforded through the community transfer initiatives. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, at this point I don't have specifics to share, but I mean, certainly there's been interest in everything from filling the space in its entirety or filling parts of the space. There's also been interest in using some of the facilities for something different that might speak to some of the needs in communities. So this has certainly started a lot of buzz and conversation about what the future of not only adult learning in communities looks like but also future uses of these facilities, which I think is really interesting, because I think it's...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I guess there's two things at play here. The first is that Aurora College will have a responsibility for communicating their plan, but ultimately as Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, I think there is a responsibility to ensure that all residents of the Northwest Territories understand what the go-forward plan is and what parts of that plan will be administered by Aurora College and what parts might fall to either Education, Culture and Employment or another entity within the Northwest Territories. And so I think there is a...
