Caitlin Cleveland

Member Kam Lake

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.

Kam Lake Electoral District

Committees

Caitlin Cleveland
Kam Lake
Minister's Office

Yellowknife NT X1A 2L9
Canada

P.O. Box
1320
Extension
11124
Minister of Education, Culture and Employment Minister of Industry, Tourism, and Investment

Statements in Debates

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 152)

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, it's not very often we actually comment on the last motion of our reports, given that it's just a timing thing. But I wanted to speak to this because committee tabled in the fall sitting a suicide prevention motion, and that was our first of a series of actions in response to the coroner's report. This report is our second action in response to the coroner's report. And what we were doing is the tools that were at our fingertips that we felt could hopefully have immediate responses and have a positive impact on supporting Northerners and...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 151)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, let's face the facts. Last year the NWT's population dropped by over 200 people with over 900 people leaving the territory. Thankfully, this decline was offset by about 300 births and 400 newcomers. Last year this House passed a motion calling for a strategy to match Canada's population growth. Every Regular Member voted in support. In its response, the GNWT all but rejected this House's call for a coordinated robust plan to increase the NWT population. The GNWT pointed instead to its growing the NWT strategy, an ineffective and outdated strategy that...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 151)

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I move that this committee recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories include in its vision of a sustainable child care system information on the following:

How to support the early learning and child care sector in its transition;

How to embrace NWT realities without disadvantaging any of the existing parts of the child care sector;

Considerations for licensing and supporting that proportion of the child care sector constituted by forprofit day homes.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 151)

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I move that this committee recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories ensures that administrative decisions are reasonable by considering the outcome of decisions and the process to come to the decisions. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 151)

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I move that this committee recommends that the Department of Education, Culture and Employment improve and provide clarity on how a person may complain about an organization's service to the public by

Providing guidance material for the complaints process to support parents and staff; and,

Developing a policy on the complaints process.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 151)

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, do you want me to wait until the motion's distributed to my colleague.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 151)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think it's worthy to stand up today to support my colleagues from Inuvik Twin Lakes and Yellowknife North. And while I don't speak a lot about lands in this House here, and I'm thankful that they do, I do speak a lot about people and at the end of the day this comes down to people.

In the history of Canada, Mr. Speaker, we've often expected that Indigenous groups and Indigenous governments routinely need to go to the Supreme Court of Canada to see that their rights are respected and upheld. This is a costly, lengthy, and exhausting litigation process that is not fair...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 151)

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I think it's worthwhile to actually start with identifying what is carbon tax. And so carbon tax, according to the federal government, is carbon pricing, about recognizing the cost of pollution, and accounting for those costs on daily decisions. Do I agree with the way that the federal government sees that rolling out in the territory? Absolutely not.

The government also says that the government sets a price that emitters must pay for each ton of greenhouse gas emissions that they emit. So what that, in turn, means is that they charge on fossil...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 151)

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am pretty sure right about now it's 5:17 in Toronto and someone is driving home, wishing that they weren't spending an hour and a half on the road and wishing they knew where to go and be there was opportunities for them to get wherever they needed to be in five minutes. And so I'm wondering if the Minister of finance is interested in putting together a targeted marketic plan to let fellow Canadians know what wonderful things the Northwest Territories has to offer and what opportunities they can come up here and take advantage of right away...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 151)

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I move that this committee urges the Government of the Northwest Territories to

Be innovative and identify options for increasing child day care spots at no or little cost including, but not limited to, changing the ratio of educators to children under two years of age by reducing the age of the infant category to children under 18 months of age. This would create additional spaces for children 18 months and older.

Completing negotiations with Housing Northwest Territories to allow licensed day care sorry, licensed child care to operate in public housing...