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. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, in that top line item there, the $8.2 million to the $6 million, that line item reduction is due to some fiscal sustainability reductions. So for starters, there is a sunset of education renewal and innovation funding but from our fiscal sustainability plan, there's also a switch to virtual meetings related to committee meetings and a reduction of the number of training sessions as well by our student support and wellness programs. There's also a trueup of mentorship allowances and substitute wages to support the budgets under the school funding...
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, can I please pass to the assistant deputy minister Mr. Saturnino. Thank you.
Debates of
, 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 21)
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, in the $10.6 million that was mentioned, that federal funding announcement, how those dollars are going to roll out, that plan is being worked on in conjunction with sector stakeholders as well as Indigenous governments and education bodies to make sure that we're all working together. I know that a lot of this comes down to us making sure that we're stacking funding together, that we're working together with additional funding mechanisms to bring it all together and make sure that we are doing what we can with the dollars we have to create more...
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, one of the things that is important to know in these two main estimates for 20232024, as well as 20242025, is they both have the funding for the new income assistance program included in them, but because we weren't able to launch that program, the actuals were far less because we weren't able to get those dollars out the door with the new program. I think it's also worth knowing as well that we still have not returned to our prepandemic levels for income assistance uptake as well. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, part of the work under the Canada Council for the Arts grant is to do work through a coordinator whose role is funded through that MOU in order to ensure that we're doing what we can as a territory with the funding that we do have in order to multiple that by accessing additional federal funding as well. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this type of work has not been fully done. About 20 years ago, the GNWT undertook an initiative that aimed to better align and streamline various social programs, but that work did not continue. What we are seeing, though, right now is absolutely I agree with the Member, there needs to be an alignment of our social programming and our social services and that's why you see a lot of conversation in the 19th Assembly, and has continued into the 20th Assembly, about integrated service delivery and an acknowledgement that integrated service delivery...
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I have a headquarters number of 38. And sorry, the policy planning sorry, planning, research, and evaluation is seven.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this, I find, relates to the first question as well and I think it's really important to reiterate that people don't need a fixed address in order to be able to access income assistance. For example, we also have people who are living in shelters who access income assistance. And so I absolutely agree that, you know, housing is not a privilege that everybody has at this time and that we need to make sure that we are coming together and working as hard as we can to make sure that there are solutions for residents and that we do what we can. Thank...
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, given the different options that exist, which were essentially leaving it as is, and comparing that to where we would like to be or how we would like to be able to support languages and culture across the territory and the effort and focus we'd like to see go into that, this was determined to be the best option in order to do the work that we wanted to see done within the department. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm very excited about the changes as well that are taking place for income assistance clients who are seniors and persons with disabilities. At this time, there is not a plan to change it right across the board. And I think it's worthwhile pointing out that this view is not shared by all of my colleagues on the other side of the House. But what I'm really excited about as well is there is going to be more time freed up, like I said for the client navigators to be able to work with income assistance clients who are not part of those two categories...
