Caroline Wawzonek

Députée de Yellowknife Sud

Circonscription électorale de Yellowknife Sud 

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

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
Mobile
Ministre

Déclarations dans les débats

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 11)

Thank you, Madam Chair. I know there have been some improvements in terms of increasing the capacity to undertake that work. I would like to get back to the Member with a more specific answer around whether or not there is anything left to do and, perhaps, be able to provide more detail with respect to what may be happening in different regions. That is not something that I have in front of me. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 11)

Thank you, Madam Chair. I may have just created an extra piece of work for the Department of Finance. It was part of the public accounts, but it certainly could be tabled on its own, or as part of the public accounts. I suppose that if there is a preference of the committee, we'd be open to hearing back from them. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 11)

Thank you, Madam Chair. I am more than happy to do that. Madam Chair, no, there is no intention to have any sort of ongoing reduction to the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation. This was simply a reflection of a particular one-time program, and of course, it remains the commitment of this government to continue to seek out opportunities for more programs of that nature to hopefully bring in similar opportunities. There is a continuing intention to maintain funding to the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 11)

Madam Chair, the question is to how successful the Department of Finance is, and the GNWT more generally, in improving telecommunications. To properly answer that is a much longer answer than what, I think, the committee is looking for in the review of the mains. It is one of the commitments in the mandate to improve telecommunications connectivity. It is one that we will, therefore, have to be reporting back to this House on in terms of developing a plan to show that we are going to improve our connectivity. That will involve looking at a baseline of where we are now in order to measure where...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 11)

Thank you, Madam Chair. As I had alluded to earlier, we've already had a Ministers' meeting for Ministers of all provinces, territories, and the federal government, and we've been following up, and we've continued to have dialogue and continue to have engagement with the federal government about the situation. I am alive to the degree of engagement necessary when you look at the source of the income that's on our page here, and where it comes from, and maintaining a positive relationship with the federal government is going to be important, and to have dialogue about our finances, and our...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 11)

Madam Chair, I am not going to commit to taking steps to update something until I know whether it needs to be updated, or perhaps if there are other tools that will actually accomplish the goal at hand. Madam Chair, in my view, the goal at hand is to have a representative workforce and to improve the representation of the workforce. My commitment is to make sure that we look for the best possible way to achieve that goal. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 11)

Thank you, Madam Chair. The fund has now become professionally managed. That has improved the returns that are being received on the fund. The projection on the rate of the percent of the fund that is now actually interest, as opposed to the principal, it's projected to be close to 5 percent in the course of this fiscal year. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 11)

Madam Chair, I certainly can provide that number. I'm not sure that I can point it to the Member right this moment on this particular page. I can provide some other general statistics in terms of knowing that it is within the financial responsibilities policy and that we are compliant with that. In fact, we're very low; we're under 2 percent for the coming year, but the actual number, Madam Chair, I will have to get back to the Member.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 11)

Thank you, Madam Chair. On this occasion, I have the benefit of Mr. Kalgutkar here, who does support some of that work, so I am going to have him answer that question.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 11)

I am going to turn over to the deputy minister, please.