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 , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 66)

Thank you, Madam Chair. We spent a fair bit of work on this with Justice, and it is that it does fall under the new legislation. That is in place for the new SDL that is being finalized right now with Husky. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 66)

Thank you, Madam Chair. I know we are partnered and working with ECE on this, and my understanding is that they are the lead. Let me see if Ms. Strand has an update on when we can expect it. I know it has gone through a review by me, but I'm not sure where it's at for its final revisions.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 66)

Yes. Thank you, Madam Chair. There has been a sunset of funding there, which certainly doesn't suggest that there is not going to be an opportunity to renew that funding. That is right now under a program review, so it's our hope that we will be in a position to come back and request the renewal of the funding once that program review is done. In the meantime, Madam Chair, there is certainly an intention to continue to work towards mineral regional development strategies wherever possible. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 66)

Thank you, Madam Chair. Again, I think I may be putting my other hat on a little bit, but this isn't the recovery budget, per se. It's the "keep things afloat so that we can recover" budget. This is a good example of that, where a lot of the work that was and is happening with respect to advancing the mandate does happen. For ITI, to the extent that it's happening here, it continues to happen. The budgets haven't changed; they're still there and the work is moving forward. Again, with respect to COVID recovery, I will again defer and just say: more to come on that. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 66)

Thank you, Madam Chair. I think travel feels like wishful thinking to me right now, in general. If we are looking at what occurred in 2020-2021, Madam Chair, we did take a fair bit of the travel budget that was there and reallocated it towards tourism, and tourism and parks, specifically. That was from the travel budgets for the department as a whole that were being looked at to help to fund tourism. Madam Chair, I hope I answered Member's question in full. I am worried that I didn't, but I'm sure he knows where to find me.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 66)

Madam Chair, I'll direct it to the deputy minister, please.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 65)

I watched as an advocate at the national inquiry, as the national inquiry struggled to be something that was built in a legal system and built in a government system, which is, in fact, the same system of legality and government that they were trying to address and to change, and it is a struggle. I can't say whether or not we, as a government or the national government, are ultimately going to implement this specific calls to actions or when or how.

What I can say and what I want to do is do what the national inquiry was calling on, which was to implement the principles, to look at the...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 65)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Keeping in mind the principles that were set out by the national inquiry for the put through the final report, which included stating that we need to take a decolonizing approach, that we need to have the inclusion of families and survivors, that the conclusions should be self-determined and Indigenous-led solutions, I have decided, Mr. Speaker, that, when work that has been done to date, organizing, as the Member has already described earlier, organizing the work that is happening within the government already, that could be happening soon and that may take longer to...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 65)

There are a couple of questions there, Mr. Speaker. I want to address the second one first, about people having sanctions for displaying racial bias in their hiring. There should not be racial bias in hiring. There should not be racism in hiring, and if that is happening, I want it brought forward. There are meant to be teams who work together. Human resources is involved precisely to ensure that the process is fair and that the policy of affirmative action is applied fairly and appropriately.

With respect to the first question, whether or not there will be some changes or a fairness review...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 65)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I had indicated earlier in my Minister's statement, I have two things I want to say. Firstly, is rolling out a very express anti-racism campaign, really speaking to the idea of challenging all of our own mindsets about what is racism and what is anti-racism, as a starting point. That is just one small starting point. Getting to the rub of what I think the MLA is asking me about targets, Mr. Speaker, I have also spoken in the House frequently about the Indigenous recruitment and retention framework that is being developed and put into place over the course of this...