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.
Minister of Education, Culture and Employment Minister of Industry, Tourism, and Investment
Statements in Debates
Debates of
, 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 35)
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, so that facility is at a cost of $75 a night to the renter. And as far as the overall cost of running the facility versus what we get back, our park system across the territory generally does cost the GNWT more than it receives in revenue. So we do subsidize our parks and camping experiences for users. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Canada-wide, the Government of Canada is putting 1 billion more dollars over the course of five years into classrooms across the country. I am really looking forward to being able to work with the Government of Canada to announce what that will mean specifically for the Northwest Territories, and I'm looking forward to being able to do that in the next few weeks. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Debates of
, 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 35)
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, this is a project that kind of fills multiple needs in the territory and offers a type of back country camping experience for people that are looking to camp in something that's not kind of a designated Fred Henne style camp experience and so affords, you know, our back country rugged visitors and Northerners something other than a traditional campground type experience and also alleviates the need for some additional spillover when our sites are full up or when people want a different experience and they're camping in spaces that aren't traditionally for...
Debates of
, 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 35)
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I would like to acknowledge the Member's comment about according to schedule. I think that's an important comment that the schedule has changed over the lifetime of this project.
Where it stands right now is the first component of the MARS project is the LTOS portion of it, and that is the land tenure optimization system that is currently being worked on ISSS. Originally, that piece of the project was going to get done first and then MARS would get done afterwards. And what we're currently working on is how we can marry these two projects together so...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, also a huge thank you to the Member. His Member's statement absolutely hit on all of the points of what this relationship between the GNWT and the Government of Canada is trying to achieve, and it's so much more than food. And so the answer absolutely is yes. The program is based on the existing -- or the funding, sorry, is going to be funding through the existing Healthy Food for Learning Program that is maintained by Education, Culture and Employment, and those dollars flow out to education bodies. Education bodies will have the opportunity to...
Debates of
, 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 35)
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. That's approximately $9,000 annually.
Debates of
, 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 35)
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I absolutely agree, and I'm all ears for any opportunity to work together and to combine resources. Thank you.
Debates of
, 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 35)
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So I -- sorry, I do understand the Member now. Thank you. So.
In 2026-2027, an outhouse and campsite development will be completed, so there will require additional funding in future years for that as well. Thank you.
Debates of
, 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 35)
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we work to be as engaged as possible with the city. I definitely routinely meet with the mayor of Yellowknife as well as the city manager. I believe I just had a meeting this week although it's been -- I think that was Monday. It could have been Friday, but I think it was Monday. And so I do try to be as engaged as possible with colleagues from other branches of leadership and make sure that we're working together as best as possible.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I guess a couple of things, and just off the top of my head while we're sitting here listening to colleagues and what they're saying about these projects, I guess where I will start is that, you know, while I absolutely respect that one of the priorities of this Assembly is housing, absolutely certainly, we also have other priorities of this Assembly, one of which is economic development and one of which is access to health care and also mental health. One of the things that comes to mind, for myself, is that during COVID, it became very clear how many...
