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
Email

Statements in Debates

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 69)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I do want to reaffirm that the net zero goal is still there, that we would be at net zero by 2050. There certainly are different ways that we might reach that goal, whether it's through the simple attrition of industrial measures or whether it's through something more proactive. And there's small scale and larger scale efforts underway, everything from the EV corridor to the border that we do already have, to a Taltson upgrade that is advancing, I would suggest, far quickly than it has in many years, though still some work to go. Having the integrated --...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 69)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair,

I'm happy to have a chance to explain that a bit better. I agree that the public will want to know that we're doing that. Let me start with the deputy minister just to describe a bit what that process looks like in terms of the whole department.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 69)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there is shortly going to be a North Slave resiliency study. The last one of these was some time ago. We are looking to have that updated. And part of what is being done within that study is, in fact, to look at some of the changing climate conditions we are under, including low water, and what that's doing to our water systems and power at various hydro facilities. And of course, also, Mr. Speaker, I would be remiss not to point out to the policy direction that was issued by the GNWT on behalf of our Minister responsible for the Public Utilities Board...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 69)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. At the risk of a spoiler alert, I can say that I've certainly conveyed that message. But given the question, that's really more for our chief information officer, so I'll send it to Mr. Heffernan, please.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 69)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, again, this is the next generation, and it really is meant to be a forward-looking and future-looking type of capacity, including the situational awareness piece, which I believe is the technology or the goal that is being sought for here. So that is the direction we're trying to get to, and that does require bringing up the system that we have in place. So I hope that answers the question, Mr. Chair.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 69)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the information I have is that these systems actually are much older than that. Perhaps, if I could, I'll turn this to the chief information officer, see if he could clarify that for us, please. Thank you.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 69)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Part of the projects -- and, again, there are -- there's a couple of aspects to the work that's happening with respect to the 9-1-1 system and certainly one component of the second project really is to try to increase the integration with third party software as well as to integrate more with, you know, ensuring that -- yeah, that the systems do speak better to each other and can rely on GIS. At some point -- I'm hesitating only in that at some point does need to be work done with the NorthwesTel, or whoever the telecom provider or say cell phone company might be, and...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 69)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. On my left, Bill MacKay, deputy minister of finance. On my right, Dave Heffernan, the assistant deputy minister and government chief information officer.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 69)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can certainly say that the power corporation already does keep in touch with both the GNWT's energy staff, who are also involved in this issue, and together they then in turn keep in touch with those at the IRC or IDC advancing the Inuvialuit energy supply project. And certainly happy to say that I'll re-enforce to them that we want to be working together to have domestic energy supply as much as we can, increases resiliency, is certainly lower carbon than the current diesel that is often used in those communities, and we want to make sure that we're...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 69)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to have the chance to speak to this again. There was an announcement that went out not too long ago. We have transitioned now from what was before a board that was made up entirely of senior officials from the government who were doing this in addition to all the other work they had to do. We've transitioned now to having seven public members, two GNWT senior deputies still involved. We are, of course, still the sole shareholders of the corporation. But those seven members were chosen based on a matrix where there's a skill set that we want to...