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've had the great privilege of travelling to some of the Monfwi communities in the previous term with the Member and have committed as well to doing the same this year and would be more than happy to follow the Member's leads on any conversations that the Member would like to see happen in the community while we are there. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, this is a conversation specifically one around health care workers that's currently happening in the context of labour mobility and how we go about doing some work both under the envelope of Team Canada to ensure that we're aligned at the end of the day and to ensure that we are moving forward in a way that respects the diversities of regions across Canada. As you can imagine, every time we peel back a layer, there's another one underneath it. It's a bit of a national onion but certainly a very important one that we work through, and health...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the last evaluation and review of that program was done in the 19th Assembly when the previous Minister reviewed the income security programs. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this one falls under my ECE hat. There are other jurisdictions that have overarching labour mobility pieces of legislation, and the Member is absolutely right, we in the territory don't have a piece of this legislation as it stands today so that is certainly something that is being considered. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, absolutely. So since 2020, I can confirm that ITI has contributed over $700,000 to the Inuvik greenhouse, $54,000 of which this fiscal to support the purchase of plants, and we're constantly working with regional offices and communities to figure out what the community-driven initiatives are and how we at ITI can get behind them. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, it's thank you to Regular Members who negotiated the additional $3.5 million for the wage enhancement that was negotiated last year as part of our budget negotiations. And at that time, it was found that home-based early childhood educators currently had higher after tax net income compared to centre-based facility childhood educators, and so the $3.5 million for wage parity adjustment was used for the wage grid in order to bring up their annual net income so that it was more in line with our JK -- or sorry, junior kindergarten -- sorry...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, currently in the Northwest Territories -- and I believe I shared this statistic last night -- there's over 330 apprentices in the Northwest Territories; a number I think that we should all be very proud of and continuously working to see that grow. 47 percent of those apprentices are Indigenous NWT residents. And currently right now we're in the middle of a two-year extension to our apprenticeship trade and occupational certification strategy. And so surely at the end of that strategy, we'll be looking for a reset and this is a great time to...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we're always working on trying to work with people who are interested in opening up spaces to try and encourage them and support them in that. We currently have five proponents right now that are working with the department to try and open up spaces that are both in and outside of Yellowknife, and I'm very hopeful that they will see great success.
In addition to that, Mr. Speaker, we also do have our infrastructure funding, and I'm also always looking for creative ways to work with my colleagues who are building things in communities and trying to...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, unfortunately, at my fingertips right here, I couldn't share with the Member the history on when that was increased. But I do believe that there was work done on this in the 19th Assembly. Thank you.
