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. My questions are for the Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation and relate to vacant housing units.
Can the Minister provide, as of March 31, 2021, the number of vacant housing units by program, by community; and
For each vacant unit, as of March 31, 2021, can the Minister state how long each has been vacant?
I appreciate what the Minister is saying about addressing the home community first and about making sure that people from the community have access to housing in that community. Sometimes, what happens is people end up living in other communities for one reason or another, and I think there are other ways that we can address this policy and make it achieve both of our ends. I am wondering if the Minister would be willing to look at community membership or land claim beneficiary membership in lieu of a community residency policy to ensure that even people who have moved away, who are still land...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation. I have spoken numerous times in the House before about the community residency policy. That is a policy that demands that NWT residents live in an NWT community for varying times up to one year before they can add their names to the public housing wait list. Can the Minister of housing speak to the goal of this policy? Thank you.
Does the Minister have any ideas of what the leading causes of mortgage arrears in the Northwest Territories and how the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation intends to address these challenges through their homeownership programs?
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. In the 2007 Auditor General's report on housing, it was found that about 71 percent of NWT Housing Corporation mortgages were in arrears. I'm wondering if the Minister of Housing can let us know what the average annual cost of home ownership mortgages are to the NWT Housing Corporation and including any maintenance or repair costs that the NWT Housing Corporation funds, as well. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I am wondering if the Minister can speak to how the NWT Housing Corporation is driving the changes needed for communities to have affordable access to building material, repair, and maintenance within all communities of the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I would like to start off today by saying that I am honoured to be wearing sustainably harvested sealskin earrings made by the incredibly talented NWT artist found on social media under Inuk 360.
Mr. Speaker, the North desperately needs more housing, so last week's announcement of a $57 million investment from the federal government was a welcomed one. The need for safe, affordable, and well-built housing has been the North's primary social challenge for decades and has consistently been identified by Assembly standing committees as a root issue at the core of...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table a letter from the Yellowknife Chamber of Commerce, "Transparent Process for easing Restrictions within the Northwest Territories." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I think it's valuable to have the conversation about community-by-community lifting and easing of restrictions. For example, if you end up with Ulukhaktok who ends up with 75 percent vaccination rates and they've had great success, say, in their community and they want to get back to doing social activities, they want to ease up on restrictions as far as capacity and gatherings, and if we here in Yellowknife have not reached that level, it would be really unfortunate to have surrounding communities really held back by their opportunity. Likewise, it would also not benefit Yellowknife to be...
