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 guess just further to my series of questions, I know that that we're you know, potentially the GNWT is not currently looking into different ways to access immigration, and I understand that there are a lot of different pulls within the government. But one of the things that is very clear is that increasing our population size is the biggest way to increase our revenue source here in the territory. It's it's one of the easiest ways to increase our revenue source.
And so having people working at increasing our our population size off the side...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And Mr. Speaker, I appreciate that things take time, but I think we also have the benefit of the fact that we're not trying to reinvent the wheel, that the Yukon really has already established a program that works well in the North and that it is something that the NWT could potentially take and change to suit the needs of the Northwest Territories and what Northerners here in the NWT want to see. So I hope that the government will continue taking the steps to move that forward.
Mr. Speaker, my next question is given the vital role of that immigration has...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment as the Minister responsible for the nominee program.
The Yukon government set up a dedicated Ukrainian family support desk just recently. It provides information on federal programs to assist with immigration and family reunification, connects employers who would offer employment to Ukrainians arriving in the Yukon, and guides Ukrainians looking for employment opportunities in the Yukon.
Is the Minister willing to set up a similar proactive service supporting immigration efforts...
Mr. Speaker, we have arrived at the routine session day where I speak to proactively increasing our population size to achieve our labour market needs and grow the economic potential of our territory. So settle in, friends, as I plant a wish list for immigration.
First is a shift to relationship building that pulls immigration staff out of offices and into our communities through an industryfocused effort to support economic development by supporting unfulfilled NWT staffing needs. Establish an Immigration Advisory Council that serves as an expert panel to recommend improvements to current...
Mr. Chair, I move that this committee recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories declare the overrepresentation of Indigenous children and youth in child and family services a crisis and develop a whole of government response in partnership with Indigenous governments. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, Bill 41: Justice Administration Statutes Amendment Act, received second reading in the Legislative Assembly on December 7th, 2021, and was referred to the Standing Committee on Social Development for review.
On March 24th, 2022, the standing committee held a public hearing with the Minister of Justice and completed its clausebyclause review of the bill. Committee received no submissions on this bill. I thank the committee for their efforts in reviewing this legislation. Individual Members may have comments or questions. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, your Standing Committee on Social Development is pleased to provide its Report on review of Bill 39: An Act to Amend the Post-Secondary Education Act and commend it to the House.
Bill 39: An Act to Amend the Post-Secondary Education Act (Bill 39) was first introduced by the Department of Education, Culture and Employment on November 24, 2021, and then referred to the Standing Committee on Social Development for review.
The Department proposed changes to the Northwest Territories' Post-Secondary Education Act that would add details on quality...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when we look at the population growth numbers for the territory, we're not a territory that's growing. I know that the Yukon and both Nunavut have seen growth in their territorial population numbers. Here in the NWT, we have not seen the same success.
And while I understand that there are there is work, sorry, going on within Health for recruitment, I laid out four different suggestions today as to how we can be very proactive as far as increasing our labour pool, increasing our population here in the territory. And I while I understand that we...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I hope that the work being done with engagement on the Nominee program will one day lead to just a really long series of yeses for me for the Minister in this House.
My last question actually relates to an answer that was given by the Minister of Health and Social Services earlier today about trying to work with people coming from the for example, the Ukraine in order to access additional health care workers. And similar to that, other jurisdictions have set up MOUs. And a great example is Manitoba has set up an MOU with the Philippines in regards...
