Caroline Wawzonek

Member Yellowknife South

Deputy Premier
Minister of Finance
Minister Responsible for the Northwest Territories Power Corporation
Minister Responsible for Strategic Infrastructure, Energy and Supply Chains

Caroline Wawzonek was first elected to the 19th Legislative Assembly in 2019 as the Member for Yellowknife South. Ms. Wawzonek served as Minister of Justice,  Minister of Finance, Minister responsible for the Status of Women and the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment. In 2023, Ms. Wawzonek was acclaimed to the 20th Legislative Assembly and returned to Executive Council as Deputy Premier, Minister of Finance, Minister of Infrastructure and the Minister Responsible for the NWT Power Corporation.
 
Ms. Wawzonek holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Calgary (2000) and a law degree from the University of Toronto, Faculty of Law (2005). Her academic journey included language studies in China and Taiwan, as well as legal internships in the Philippines and England. Born in Calgary, AB, she has called Yellowknife home since 2007.
 
After establishing her criminal law practice post-admission to the Law Society of the NWT, Ms. Wawzonek appeared in all levels of NWT courts and engaged in circuit court travel. She later joined Dragon Toner, expanding her practice to general litigation and administrative law until becoming a member of the 19th Assembly.
 
Since 2007, she has taken on leadership roles in the legal community, including the presidency of the Law Society of the Northwest Territories (LSNT), section chair for the Canadian Bar Association Northwest Territories Branch (CBA-NT), and committee membership in various working groups. Her community involvement extends to appointments in multiple Yellowknife organizations, and she received a national award in 2017 for her contributions to Canadian Women in Law.
 
Ms. Wawzonek, a mother of two, enjoys running, paddleboarding, and time outdoors.
 

Committees

Caroline Wawzonek
Yellowknife South
Member's Office

Yellowknife NT X1A 2L9
Canada

P.O. Box
1320
Email
Extension
12177
Deputy Premier, Minister of Finance, Minister of Infrastructure, and Minister Responsible for the Northwest Territories Power Corporation
Mobile
Minister's Office
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Statements in Debates

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 117)

Thank you, Madam Chair. So I mean, there's different and Madam Chair, let me just address the confidentiality issue quickly if I might. I don't have a clock in front of me, but I'll try and be succinct.

Look, I do think we can do a different way of presenting this information. This wasn't raised to me in advance, and that's fine. But I do think there's ways of doing it. There's concerns around the longterm plan and concerns around sharing the budgets on the long term. Some of these projects are multiyear projects so sharing what's lapsing inevitably winds up sharing what some of the budgets...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 117)

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, readily we don't have an answer to that question. So we'll certainly make a commitment to go and confirm both with Department of Infrastructure as well as Department of Finance to see if my understanding is if there's projects that had been previously carried over and that now are going to be lapsed and not advanced is what I'm hearing. I will go and double check on that, as I said. And yes, yes. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 117)

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, we do have the percentage here. I am

We don't have 20222023 yet. In 20212022, at this point, Madam Chair, we're looking at about 49 percent, just over. 49.6.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 117)

Thank you, Madam Chair. It was on schedule to be complete by November of this year. There had been some talk of even being able to go down and to do some sort of formal opening. At this point, Madam Chair, I'm not sure whether that will still be the case, whether that's due to some delays that may arise out of the flood or not, I will when I have an update on that, I will certainly provide it to my colleagues. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 117)

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, that information certainly is available, and I expect yes, I would think that we should be able to find a way to put that information forward, Madam Chair. Yes, thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 117)

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I was a bit hesitant to commit my colleagues but certainly to when there's a strategy that's underway being developed for electronic health records, it is common practice that we would as the Ministers appear in front of the standing committees with that type of information. So I'm relatively confident that my colleague won't mind me making that commitment on her behalf. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 117)

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, may I direct that to Mr. Courtoreille, please.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 117)

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, there's four different funding pots through the federal government that were brought together on this one, relating in some part to the response to COVID19 and to a restart and arising also from recognition around immunization, virtual care. And all together, they are being used to advance the longer term need to have Health and Social Services assist and or not transferred entirely but do make better use of virtual care, electronic medical records, and then the management of public health information in that environment. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 117)

Thank you, Madam Chair. We have the right page out now but let me, if I may, I'll ask Mr. Courtoreille to answer it, since he has that page.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 117)

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, so two parts to that. And with respect, first, to some understanding as to what was happening over the last year or so, a few comments.

Firstly, that the ISSS or Office of the Chief Information Officer were being relied upon to do things like deliver the QR code, the vaccination records, the updates to health and social services systems in response to COVID. So the fact that we're all able to download those vaccine records as quickly as we were is thanks, in part, to the work that went on in that office, which was not a small thing and it was certainly not...