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, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to first ask some questions to the housing minister in regards to data collection as a whole for the organization.
Right off the top, Mr. Speaker, I'm wondering if the Minister will commit to changing the current data collection practices of Housing NWT and commit to strategic data collection and analysis? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Minister of housing responded to questions on data collection on the homeless population. One of her responses was astonishing and disappointing. She explained that the department does not, quote, "currently have systematic collection of data on this population to allow us to track the population over time. Not only does this make it difficult for me to tell you how many NWT residents are impacted at any point, but it also means that I do not have data on how long individuals remain homeless and what kind of housing solutions they move into."
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, another key outcome from Yukon's housing audit was to improve interdepartmental collaboration. Yukon Housing Corporation and Yukon's Department of Health and Social Services have committed to signing a multiyear MOU, including coordinating their approach to information management. This is also something I have frequently spoken about to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment and Minister of Justice who is also responsible for integrated service delivery. We know so much of our program delivery in this territory is siloed and desperately...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it would be of great value, I think, to look at what the Yukon's audit read, and I think that it would also be of great value to look at our 2008 audit that the OAG did on our own Housing Corporation here because a lot of those recommendations are still quite relevant today.
Mr. Speaker, if this audit was repeated in the NWT, I believe the OAG would have similar findings on the lack of information at Housing NWT. One major recommendation was that the Yukon Housing Corporation set up performance indicators, including shortterm and longterm targets and outcome...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Why stop at three, let's try for a fourth.
Mr. Speaker, I want to acknowledge that the Minister did inform us that housing is intending to create a data dashboard with the information that they collect, and I want to thank the Minister for that. The Minister might remember that the Department of Finance also has their open data portal that was recently released. And I'm wondering if the Minister of Housing will commit to ensuring that collected housing data is, where appropriate, updated on the GNWT's open data portal as well so that we have a consolidated...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Minister for that yes. I'm wondering, Mr. Speaker, if the Minister is working with ISSS to determine best practices and available systems for data collection, management, analysis, and use. If not, will the Minister commit to working with ISSS to determine a solution for integrated data collection management and use? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am happy to recognize Kam Lake resident Karen Patterson Wiley who has joined us in the gallery today. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to table an email I received February 7th, 2023, from the Office of the Minister responsible for Housing Northwest Territories regarding demographics of public housing tenants. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. We have long been awaiting this document and have yet to see a draft on that and very much welcome it at the committee level.
Another recommendation was for the Yukon Housing Corporation to develop and implement a program evaluation framework. We heard in the Minister's remarks yesterday that we don't have a systematic data collection. So will the upcoming homelessness strategy include a plan for systematic data collection and program evaluation framework? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And I appreciate the Minister identifying that it is a work in progress and that ECE is still working on this. And I also appreciate the Minister of Health referencing that they are currently working on this with other departments, including the department of education. I think it's really important, and we can't still find ourselves in another decade simply looking at the fact that there's vacancies and saying, well, we just don't have enough speech language pathologist, so we just have to make do. We're going to have to look at other creative solutions like...
