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, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, what the Aurora College has said to this point is that the existing mode of delivery for courses through the community learning centres has not been working and that they want to re-envision what this looks like. So they've not said that they are completely vacating the adult education space. They have said they are going to be doing it different. So where I'm at right now is determining if their plan does meet the needs of the mandate of education, culture and employment. So I can't answer that here on the floor of the House right now. But they...
Debates of
, 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 45)
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. So, Madam Chair, the reason that this program was certainly implemented back in the day was in hopes of seeing more students return to the North in hopes of ultimately seeing our population numbers grow. It was part of the strategy for population growth. We did not see, as everybody knows, our population grow as a result of this program. Certainly, if the intent was to see this program returned to the budgets of the Legislative Assembly, I would not have the authority to just start doing it again. I would have to go to -- through regular budgetary processes in...
Debates of
, 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 45)
Thank you very much. Our commitment was to relaunch the program after hearing from them. So we listened to them. We took into account their perspectives and relaunched the program. Madam Chair, there was no commitments made at the meeting because, of course, needed to ensure that we were weighing all of the facts and balancing everything out and putting together a program at the end of the day that we felt was fair. Thank you.
Debates of
, 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 45)
Thank you, Madam Chair. Well, Madam Chair, I would hope that at the end of the day all adults, including all of us, are being respectful of one another. But I would also love for teachers to share with my kids how to exercise their civic responsibilities and civic duties and get them involved in politics and that -- you know, politics is everything from do you think you should be allowed to wear a ball cap in a classroom. And so I think that at the end of the day making sure that while teachers aren't indoctrinating kids that we absolutely are ensuring that our kids are developing critical...
Debates of
, 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 44)
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, that's the first order of business, is deciding how we would like to work together and to give us an idea of kind of how that will look from start to finish, I'd like to be able to pass to the deputy minister.
Debates of
, 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 44)
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, that would just be Aurora College.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the wage grid is done. It's in regulation. So the process that's happening now is people are either providing their degree paperwork or their diploma paperwork and going through that certification process. People who don't have any post-secondary education are required to complete that 54-hour modularized course that the Member and I spoke of earlier in this sitting, and so there -- some people are in the process of still completing that coursework. And as we talked about earlier, ECE is happy to also support people to complete that work and help them...
Debates of
, 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 44)
And, Mr. Chair, if I might add (audio).
Debates of
, 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 44)
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, within that line item, we had the movement of our school-based mental health and wellness over -- that was moved -- that was previously in our junior kindergarten to grade 12 education system services, and it was moved down into the inclusive schooling section, and then in addition to that, we also have adjustments due to the UNW and the NWTTA collective agreements. Thank you.
Debates of
, 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 44)
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, if the Member will just give me one quick second, I would be delighted, and there's no such thing as a silly question.
So historically we have an under spend of fees and payments. These typically go to costs for fees, licensing permits, registrations for workshop, development and training within the department. So as I said, historically we had an under spend of fees and payments and so that's what -- that's the difference that we are largely seeing there. Thank you.
