Députée de Yellowknife Sud

Première ministre adjointe
Ministre des Finances
Ministre responsable de la Société d’énergie des Territoires du Nord-Ouest
Ministre responsable de l’infrastructure stratégique, de l’énergie et des chaînes d’approvisionnement

Caroline Wawzonek a été élue pour la première fois à la 19e Assemblée législative en 2019, comme représentante de Yellowknife Sud. Elle a été ministre de la Justice, ministre des Finances, ministre responsable de la condition de la femme, et ministre de l’Industrie, du Tourisme et de l’Investissement. En 2023, Mme Wawzonek a été élue par acclamation à la 20e Assemblée législative et a réintégré le Conseil exécutif en tant que première ministre adjointe, ministre des Finances, ministre de l’Infrastructure et ministre responsable de la Société d’énergie des TNO.

Mme Wawzonek a obtenu un baccalauréat ès arts de l’Université de Calgary en 2000 et un diplôme en droit de la faculté de droit de l’Université de Toronto en 2005. Son parcours universitaire comprend des études de langues en Chine et à Taïwan, ainsi que des stages de droit aux Philippines et en Angleterre. Mme Wawzonek est née à Calgary (Alberta) et habite Yellowknife depuis 2007.

Une fois admise au Barreau des TNO, Mme Wawzonek a mis sur pied sa propre pratique du droit pénal et a plaidé à tous les échelons du système judiciaire des Territoires du Nord-Ouest, et s’est souvent déplacée dans les collectivités ténoises à cet effet. Elle a ensuite intégré le cabinet d’avocats Dragon Toner, élargissant sa pratique au litige général et au droit administratif jusqu’à ce qu’elle devienne députée de la 19e Assemblée.

Depuis 2007, Mme Wawzonek a assumé de nombreux rôles de leadership au sein de la communauté juridique : elle a notamment été présidente du Barreau des Territoires du Nord-Ouest et présidente de section pour la division des Territoires du Nord-Ouest de l’Association du Barreau canadien, et a participé à divers groupes de travail. Son engagement envers la collectivité l’a amenée à œuvrer dans de multiples organisations de Yellowknife et, en 2017, elle a reçu un prix national soulignant le travail de femmes canadiennes œuvrant dans le domaine du droit.

Mère de deux enfants, Caroline Wawzonek aime courir, faire de la planche à pagaie et passer du temps à l’extérieur.

Committees

Caroline Wawzonek
Yellowknife Sud
Bureau

Yellowknife NT X1A 2L9
Canada

P.O. Boîte
1320
Extension
12177
Vice-premier ministre, Ministère des finances, Ministre de l'Infrastructure, Ministre responsable de la Société d'énergie des Territoires du Nord-Ouest

Déclarations dans les débats

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 62)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm not in a position to speak to a specific procurement event here on the floor of the House. Certainly would be happy to find the details. We do, if there's a procurement event, obviously we are monitoring now to make sure that contracts are complied with and that commitments are applied with, whether it's to northern hiring, northern spends. That is part of vendor performance management now, and so certainly happy to make the commitment that we will do that. If there's fundamentals that have changed in a contract and they're not being met, again, that...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 62)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There is a second component of what's happening right now in this space, and that is led, really, by staff at Executive and Indigenous affairs is to have discussions with modern treaty holders, specifically to determine whether or not there are opportunities to create MOU arrangements so that there can be more formalized agreements as to how procurement might happen on the land -- on the lands for modern treaty holders. That may well end up in something of the way that the Member is describing. Obviously, it's premature for me to conclude what that would look like...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 62)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we in the last government set up what's called the health recruitment unit. This is an entity that works in concert with a team lead from the health authority. So we have a human resource specialist and an authority specialist working together specifically focused particularly nurse recruitment. Mr. Speaker, they are seeing some significant outcomes and benefits. For example, we are now consolidating competitions, which means it's a much more efficient process. Rather than hiring individually, we can actually bring nurses into a competition for any and all...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 62)

Yes, Mr. Speaker. Happy to do so. The only -- what we -- the stage we were at, Mr. Speaker, is we're negotiating -- there is, of course, the infrastructure cooperation agreement with the Tlicho government, and so we were working with them to negotiate the final stages of a design contract. That may well even be signed by now, but certainly the last time I had checked in on it, we were at the final stages of that. That will go to design, and then from there, we will be hopefully jointly going to help get some funding to see this project to its completion. Thank you.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 62)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. At this point, Mr. Speaker, I mean, looking at using AI technology in areas of infrastructure and actually replacing type of different infrastructure systems is beyond what I'm speaking to here. What I'm looking at here is how the public service is using AI really more in day-to-day functions. So, again, don't want to be overpromising in terms of what it is, but it's really meant to be guidance for the public service in how we use it in a public service context and not necessarily when it comes to, for example, battery systems. Certainly open to having an opportunity to...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 62)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the use of artificial intelligence obviously is a new area. It certainly is one that we are looking to provide better guidance to our staff on. So what we've done thus far, we looked to what the Government of Canada's doing, we've also looked at what the Government of British Columbia doing, and that is likely to be where we'll find the most alignment that can help us move this forward a little faster. And with that, we will be able to produce our own guidelines for the use of generative artificial intelligence, which I expect that and then training...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 62)

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Nunakput that Bill 31, Supplementary Appropriation Act (Infrastructure Expenditures) No. 1, 2025-2026, be read for the third time. Mr. Speaker, I would request a recorded vote.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 62)

Mr. Speaker, I wish to present to the House Bill 31, Supplementary Appropriation Act (Infrastructure Expenditures) No. 1, 2025-2026, to be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 62)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So a couple of the departments are involved. I can say that for in terms of BIP component and whether or not a business complies and continues to comply with BIP, that is monitored regularly through folks at ITI, and whether or not there's -- and then on the procurement side, Mr. Speaker, obviously, sometimes people like to suggest that we should move our procurement processes faster. One of the things we do try to do, of course, is to verify whether or not when someone is bidding on a contract that they are, in fact, providing information as necessary and as is...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 62)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A couple things. Firstly, is that, again, our existing procurement policies do, to the extent that we look at BIP and use BIP as a key tool, we are now enforcing through vendor performance management the opportunity to ensure that when someone says they're hiring northerners, and ultimately Indigenous Northerners, that we'll be monitoring that so that they do the things they say they're going to do. But secondarily, Mr. Speaker, I'd suggest folks take a look at the proposed definition around Indigenous business that we've put forward. It's really a question of saying...