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. I appreciate that response. The numbers are much better than the last numbers that I have from the Department of Finance, and so that is good news to start us off with today. And so I thank the public service and the Minister for that.
But this number is still lower than previous years, and I'm wondering if the GNWT has plans to beat their numbers from preCOVID times. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, succession planning within the GNWT is important. A key part of the Government's succession planning is their summer student internship programs. Growing up in the NWT, not once did I every kick back and think, Wow, one day I want to work for the government. But, as a summer student, I was exposed to a multitude of unique positions that I never knew existed within our government, the GNWT's staff's graphic designers, biologists, and heavy duty mechanics. Some public servants work in an office, others in classrooms, and some spend their days in the bush.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Your committee would like to report on its consideration of Bill 25, an Act to Amend the Education Act. Bill 25 received second reading in the Legislative Assembly on March 30th, 2021, and was referred to the Standing Committee on Social Development for review. The standing committee held a public hearing with the Minister of Education, Culture, and Employment and completed its clausebyclause review of the bill on May 31st, 2021.
Mr. Speaker, the committee reports that Bill 25, An Act to Amend the Education Act is ready for consideration in Committee of the Whole. Thank...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, by my numbers, the GNWT is still off by about a hundred fabulous students that would love to work for the GNWT. So I'm wondering if the Minister will make a commitment to at least hire another hundred students before the end of June. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister of Finance. I'm wondering if the Minister of Finance can tell us how many summer students are currently working for the GNWT this year. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it appeared that during the pandemic that there was a large requirement on those two entities to come together and do communication together. There was a lot of influx of calls to Protect NWT, to Public Health, and to the CPHO's office, and there was a need for those to come together and to work in unison.
So how does Health and Social Services or the office of the CPHO ensure that those communicating bodies are able to work together and pass the same and consistent information on to residents. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today, I originally wanted to talk about the power and resilience of community. Through floods, the schoolbased COVID outbreak and the devastating loss of family, this month is a testament to how Northerners support one another through adversity. But what this government needs to hear now is how they COVID outbreak communication jeopardized the contact tracing, testing, containment, and commitment of both staff and NWT residents.
In May, over a thousand people found themselves suddenly selfisolating from potential COVID exposure at schools, restaurants, and children's...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Health and Social Services. As we are over one calendar year into the COVID19 pandemic, can the Minister provide a copy of the exemption policy document used to guide selfisolation exemption decisions, and the number of exemptions per week for the last three months, the category for grounds for exemptions, the percentage breakdown between exemptions granted to residents versus nonresidents, and the percentage of exemptions granted for personal versus essential versus commercial purposes. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I'm glad that the Minister mentioned "lessons learned" because my next question is about lessons learned and how does the Minister intend to ensure that lessons learned are captured from this outbreak so that we can better prepare how we will communicate future ones. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to start off by reiterating my thanks to public servants who worked very hard during the outbreak here in Yellowknife.
During the outbreak, even constituents who were isolating and were confused were very you know, the very first thing that they always said was how thankful that they were because everybody had a friend who was working long hours, everybody knew somebody who was directly working with the outbreak. So our thanks for that.
My first question for the Minister of Health and Social Services today is who is responsible for COVID...
