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 48)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I don't have any comments or response. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 48)

Yes I do.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 48)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes. The Member actually identified a couple of the reasons why the money was not spent, quite outside necessarily the control or exclusive control of the government. With respect to the commitment that he is seeking, I would suggest that we turn this to the Minister of Infrastructure, please.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 48)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm not sure that there is much to be added. I appreciate the recognition that, to do the work of government, you have to actually do the work of government. That does mean that you have to have people doing the work and you have to coordinate the work, and you have to spend money to get it done. Fighting COVID and implementing the measures we have costs money, and the Member actually does point out quite accurately that, as of right now, the federal government is providing us with an amount that brings down the net cost to the GNWT of just over $8 million. I'm going to...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 48)

Madam Speaker, I wish to table the following four documents: "2019 Socio-Economic Agreement Report for Mines Operating in the Northwest Territories," Economic Context of Ekati Diamond Mine Closing;" the "2019 Survey of Mining Employees: Northwest Territories Bureau of Statistics;" and "2019 Ekati Diamond Mine Socio-Economic Agreement Report." Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 48)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes. I am happy to continue to follow up on that. Actually, I do not think I mentioned it in this context. Mr. Chair, there have been quite a number of opportunities already for me to have a direct connection with the tourism association and the tourism industry. In fact, I am up in front of them tomorrow with a bit of a Q and A, so there may well be some very direct opportunity within the next 14 or so hours to have that Q and A with representatives from industry and from businesses in the industry. I take the Member's point.

I do want to defend the program a little bit...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 48)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am happy to make a monthly commitment. The Department of Finance will be collecting monthly variance reports on the COVID secretariat spending and can make those public as they are available. It does take some time, so September 30th, it does not mean we necessarily put it out on September 30th, Mr. Chair. When it does get gathered and reported and analyzed, it can take a couple of weeks, but we will be getting them and putting them out on a monthly basis. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 48)

Of course, the IBAs themselves are confidential themselves as between the industry proponents and the Indigenous governments themselves, but by continuing to be engaged with both Indigenous governments as well as with the industry, we're certainly able to help navigate the development and the strengthening of all of those levels of cooperation and collaboration. I'll go back to what I had mentioned earlier, which is the development of regional mineral development strategies which helps give a voice to individual regions so that they can better finetune what it is they want to see out of the...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 48)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is growth and recovery by investing in tourism. The Member makes a good point. It's not necessarily meant at the relief stage. It's not targeting the relief stage that is, obviously, needed by a lot of businesses. There're a number of programs both within the GNWT but also from the federal government that are much more directly targeted at relief. The growth and recovery by investing in tourism has three different streams, if you will, under which individual businesses can apply. The first one is for new product development or innovation meant to be for, again...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 48)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I know that the Premier's office has engaged in a pretty wide variety of conversations and engagements over the last little while, so I'd ask that we direct that to the Premier, please.