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.
I am going to ask for some more money anyway. We live in a very small territory, and I have had the privilege of knowing many teachers who have also shared with me the PowerPoint presentation that they received from the Chief Public Health Officer. I have seen what the expectation is for kids going back to school this fall, and as a parent and as a resident of the Northwest Territories, I definitely have my own concerns. We know just from what we've heard around Canada, through COVID, that one of the expectations is going to be limited extra-curricular for students in their classrooms, and...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Education, and I quickly realized today, while sitting here, that the Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes and I are on the same page. I can save the Minister a little bit of time today and let him know that there will be increased costs to schools for PPE. The expectation is for schools to have physical barriers, for them to be able to have face masks, for them to have increased cleaning in the schools, a potential for increased staffing needs if a teacher has a runny nose, which, if anybody here knows kids, runny noses in...
Thank you for letting me double dip, Madam Chair. I'm wondering if the Minister can please provide just an outline of what recommendations they plan to be able to implement from the healthy families program for the $600,000? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. One of my questions was asked so I'm just going to keep moving down the line item to the $2.6 million for mental health and wellness counselling. I would just like confirmation if that is the child and youth care counsellors. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, and I appreciate the Minister's response. My last question is a bit of a broad one, but I'm curious to see how the Minister will respond. We have had a lot of opportunity to really learn from COVID over the last three months, and to ask ourselves what we would do differently. What I would like to know from the Minister is what the Department of Education, Culture and Employment was able to learn from our last three months in COVID. Looking forward to a second wave, how would ECE better support school boards for a second wave, and how would they ensure that no...
I'm happy to hear that, and I'm also happy to follow up with the Minister throughout the summer as he is able to work with the school boards. It was also brought to my attention that, in my constituency, and I am sure that this is consistent throughout the Northwest Territories, in the rush to get students set up at home, many of the schools emptied their resource and supply stashes so that children would have access to many learning items, whether it be books, markers, workbooks, anything they could get their hands on. Some kids even were able to go home with Chrome books. For the start of...
Mr. Speaker, our schools don't only provide traditional learning opportunities like reading and writing. Schools are where children learn to interact, and where many children depend on for food and emotional support. COVID-19 has shown us that education of our northern youth is fragile and that access to education is not equitable. When I talk about equitable access, I am talking about access to the physical resources like hardware, software, Internet, and phones needed to access and communicate with schools. However, I am also talking about the capacity of the child's home to support learning...
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Just one final question, I promise. The Minister mentioned that there would be now be five additional communities that this would be expanded to. What is the total number of communities that this is present in? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. My last question is just in regard to the very last line item for Alcoholics Anonymous and Wellbriety. I just want to confirm that that is program funding that is offered in all communities and not just Yellowknife.
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 29)
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. I'm just wondering if one of the Ministers can identify: under here, we have a boiler replacement, and it was brought to my attention in 2019 that there was a boiler replacement that was paid for directly by the school, so I'm just wondering when does the GNWT cover the cost, and when is the school board expected to cover the cost? Thank you.
