Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment Minister of Education, Culture and Employment
The Honourable Caitlin Cleveland was first elected in the 19th Assembly as the MLA for Kam Lake in 2019, and has served as the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, and Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment since 2023 after being acclaimed to the 20th Assembly.
In addition to owning and operating a northern business for over 20 years, Minister Cleveland worked in a variety of communications and policy roles in both the public and private sectors before entering politics.
Between 2019 to 2023, she chaired the Standing Committee on Social Development, fulfilling a goal to be a part of the discussions and decisions affecting social programs in the Northwest Territories. Her noteworthy work on the Committee included guiding the considerable review and input into recommendations on housing in the NWT, suicide prevention, and improvements to caring for children in care and building supported families.
Within the scope of her portfolios, Minister Cleveland is focused on helping children grow into successful NWT residents that recognize opportunities and develop successful careers that contribute to a growing economy. She advocates for new approaches to sector diversification and innovation, and ensures the North is welcoming both skilled foreign workers and investment in the critical mineral resources across the territory. She persistently explores solutions for efficient and equitable access to programs and services, upholding a shared vision of an NWT where people are supported in the ways they wish to live, work, and grow.
Minister Cleveland is a lifelong resident of Yellowknife where she lives with her husband and their three children.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can certainly pull that back up for the Member. We did all receive an email that spoke directly to that. I just don't have it immediately at my fingertips right this very second. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am in direct contact with the senior staff of education, culture and employment seven days a week unfortunately for them, but I very much appreciate how accessible they are. And as soon as I did receive the correspondence from the MLA, I immediately did reach out to the deputy minister because like I did say last year, these relationships are paramount and we want to ensure that the childcare sector is well supported and well informed and has access to answers to their questions. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document: Canada Energy Regulator's 2023-2024 Annual Report of Activities under the Northwest Territories' Oil and Gas Operations Act. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Canada-NWT Canada-wide ELCC agreement requires that the GNWT implement a certification system and a wage grid for early childhood educators and also that it achieves the average $10 a day per childcare fees for families in the Northwest Territories. However, the agreement does not define specifics on how the GNWT is to implement the certification or wage grid. That's something that we were able to do here in the territory by meeting with our stakeholders.
The wage grid identifies an hourly minimum that an educator must receive but doesn't set...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member for that question. There's certainly not only literacy programs happening through these organizations, there's also awareness and encouragement happening even from our schools themselves to encourage literacy in the home. And with our new training certification wage grid as well with our ELCCs, this type of work in reading to children and such is also, as we know, happening in our daycares and our day home providers as well. And so it's not just a solution that requires more funding, although the NWT Literacy Council does amazing...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when I received the letter from the Member, I did go through it line by line. I highlighted different sections of the letter and different pieces that were raised by the childcare provider, and membership fees was one of them and so that is something that I have put to the department and would be happy to loop back around once we've had the opportunity to look into that. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I certainly would hope so. There are 2.5 positions for economic development officers within Tlicho community, and the Tlicho communities also do have the Tlicho regional economic development working group that those economic development officers directly work with, and that is in support of the economic development strategy that was produced by the Tlicho government between 2022 and -- or for 2022 to 2027. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Yes, Mr. Speaker, we do have a regional office that does travel into communities and work specifically with the ED -- sorry, the economic development officers that are also funded by ITI that work within the community, and that is afforded through the community transfer initiatives. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, at this point I don't have specifics to share, but I mean, certainly there's been interest in everything from filling the space in its entirety or filling parts of the space. There's also been interest in using some of the facilities for something different that might speak to some of the needs in communities. So this has certainly started a lot of buzz and conversation about what the future of not only adult learning in communities looks like but also future uses of these facilities, which I think is really interesting, because I think it's...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I guess there's two things at play here. The first is that Aurora College will have a responsibility for communicating their plan, but ultimately as Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, I think there is a responsibility to ensure that all residents of the Northwest Territories understand what the go-forward plan is and what parts of that plan will be administered by Aurora College and what parts might fall to either Education, Culture and Employment or another entity within the Northwest Territories. And so I think there is a...
