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, the capacity of Mezi School is 170, and the current student head count is 142 students. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have not been known for turning away conversations with people. I absolutely appreciate the opportunity to speak with Northerners about how policies and government decisions impact their lives. I've had the opportunity, with the Member for Mackenzie Delta, to sit and have similar conversations with people from his riding as well. And so this is certainly something that is not a Yellowknife challenge. It is a challenge that impacts people from absolutely every community from one end to the other, and I'm absolutely all ears and willing to sit...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, absolutely, the SCIP funding is one of the methods that the department supports families. Another funding amount that is used to support families is ECE does provide $362,000 annually to the NWT Disabilities Council to support families that do have children with complex needs. In addition, I know that even day home -- people who want to open day homes, and specifically serve children with complex needs, have reached out to me as MLA and inquired about what types of supports they would receive from the department. And so the department works...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I committed, there are currently six small capital projects on the books for this school that will be completed between 2025 and 2030. And in addition to that, I can also confirm for the Member that there are currently planning funding approved in addition to the two that we're looking at in capital estimates right now, but for four additional schools in the territory. And those four that are getting large capital planning right now are Deninu School in Fort Resolution, Moose Kerr School in Aklavik, Alexis Arrowmaker School in Wekweeti, and MJ...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we look at how many students are in all grades. We have enrolment figures that come in from education bodies every year, and we also track that compared to the capacity of each school across the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
Debates of
, 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 35)
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, essentially, there's a lot of history to this dock and currently we manage the marina in-house. It's a legacy asset that we do have, and so we are the contractors. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I always like to make sure that we are working smarter, not harder, and that we are saving dollars for where we really need them in the territory, and so if there are staff already located in a community, for example in Norman Wells, we do have a regional superintendent who would be able to do some of this work within the school, and we may even have teachers within the schools that can help support having the conversations about how to access trades and how to get involved in trades within the schools. And so I certainly want to explore this with...
Debates of
, 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 35)
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, this is the installation of a gravity-fed water system to upgrade the existing outhouses and potentially capable of supporting flush toilets. These enhancements would increase the number of total outhouses on site at the pullout to three. Thank you.
Debates of
, 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 35)
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, a lot of our projects have to do with maintaining assets that are already existing and also ensuring safety at the same time. So the last time that the territorial park marina went through extensive renovation was in 2017. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as it stands with the existing program, education bodies already formally report on types of food and program -- that their program offers and the average number of children and youth served, and those are all available online through annual reports that are already published.
In addition to that, ECE is going to be engaging with education bodies to set more formal targets specific to this new funding. So that could be tracking the expansion and enhancements of existing programs and infrastructure improvements to really show what kind of impact these dollars...
