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

Board of Management
Caroline Wawzonek
Yellowknife South
Member's Office

Yellowknife NT X1A 2L9
Canada

P.O. Box
1320
Email
Email
Office
(867) 767-9143
Extension
12177
Deputy Premier, Minister of Finance, Minister of Infrastructure, and Minister Responsible for the Northwest Territories Power Corporation
Mobile
867-445-7437
Minister's Office
Email
Email

Statements in Debates

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 83)

[Audio] Madam Chair.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 83)

Thank you, Madam Chair. So Madam Chair, just the breakdown as it stands right now, there's been about a million dollars invested thus far just in terms of preparing and doing the necessary level of studies I would anticipate to plan for this. 20222023, it was $6 million. And 20232024, the remainder of $12.7 million. So, you know, Madam Chair, I think this is an important project to discuss. This would bring fibre to Tuktoyaktuk by 2024. And as I have alluded to, this Northwestel is already under obligation to CRTC to bring in to upgrade the fibre or sorry, the broadband availability and...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 83)

Chief information officer Rick Wind will be joining us, please.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 83)

Thank you, Madam Chair. I don't have sort of a percentage of accuracy in my information in front of me. I think this is probably best answered by having the folks in the room doing a briefing. But if I can just turn it over to the deputy minister, maybe he has a sense from the team as to their level of certainty or comfort with this number. Thanks.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 83)

Madam Chair, I'm checking my books, and I'm going to see if perhaps Rick Wind has that at the tip of his fingers, please. I'll suggest it go to him.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 83)

Yeah, thank you, Madam Chair. I mean, I can think myself that there's probably projects in Madam Chair's riding that, you know, within -- in terms of parks that could use some supports.

Right now, the budgets that we have, from what I am understanding, is that there's already a maxing out on the staff capacity that we have within tourism, within the managing of tourism and within the managing of all these projects. So I'm not sure that ITI's going to be in a position to take on management of much more.

I mean, there's always the funding projects and the funding pools that we have over in...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 83)

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, that question is not as simple as it sounds on first blush. There is a variety of different types of infrastructure in this budget. There are deferred maintenance budgets that are sitting in, for example, the Department of Infrastructure as there are also budgets available in some of the other departments for provision of health care services or education. Some of the infrastructure that we need to deliver on is so that those projects, the programs and services can continue to function.

So certainly, there will be some projects where there are obvious...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 83)

Madam Chair, that sounds pretty good. I'm going to go with 'yes', thanks.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 83)

Thank you, Madam Chair. Sorry, maybe I'm misunderstanding but the Mackenzie Valley fibre link is an asset of the GNWT. So, maybe I'm misunderstanding, Madam Chair.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 83)

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, yes, I'm quite pleased to say this is one of the projects that, well, for one, was, I think, fell under the Tlicho Investment -- and now I'm -- can't say it right. The agreement that we have with the Tlicho government with respect to procurement and project development, the infrastructure agreement. And so that certainly does fall under that, which I think, hopefully, is good news in terms of the way in which it's proceeding, which does bring about quite a bit of direct involvement from the Tlicho government and has included within it there's requirements...