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
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 24)
I'm good. Thank you.
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 24)
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Would the Minister be able to speak a little to the scope that they have planned for that review and what the anticipated cost of that would be? Thank you.
As a government, we have incurred many expenses because of COVID-19, and we have incurred these expenses hoping that the federal government will down the road reimburse us for all of these. I am wondering: does the territorial government kind of have a limit of how much COVID debt they are willing to take on or they can take on, and is small business and money to small business included in that plan? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Premier because I believe that the kind of response required by the GNWT to support small business will take a Cabinet collaboration. Mr. Speaker, can I have the Premier's commitment that she will instruct her Cabinet Ministers to bring forward innovative suggestions on how more funding and support can be made available to NWT businesses as a result of COVID-19? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The International Monetary Fund is calling the pandemic's devastation of the global economy "the great lockdown." Its impacts are predicted to be worse than both the 2009 great recession and the Great Depression of the 1930s. According to the Conference Board of Canada, Canada's economic contraction during the second quarter of 2020 is estimated to be a staggering 25 percent due to COVID-19 shutdowns. The Conference Board is at least optimistic that a rebound will start later in the year, but by this time many businesses and the jobs they bring will be beyond devastated...
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 24)
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. I just wanted to know, with the child and youth care counsellors that the territory is anticipating adding to all of our regions, with the recent developments of COVID and the anxiety and added mental health concerns that this will cause for the children of the Northwest Territories, is there an added emphasis to get these positions all in place across the territory quicker? Thank you.
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 23)
Thank you very much Madam Chair. I absolutely agree that NGOs are crucial in that sense. As you mentioned the NWT Disabilities Council, they end up being the ones actually delivering the programming. My question is: who provides the oversight of all these NGOs? Because sometimes they end up administering the same programs, whereas, really, we could be working together to make sure that we're offering different levels of care throughout our system of partnerships. Thank you.
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 23)
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. I very much believe that child and family services is, given the changes that health and social services wants to implement, a form of preventative care because we've all seen research that says, when you invest in kids, when you invest in families, the benefits that come back to communities and the benefits that come back to your society are huge. I think my colleague from Yellowknife Centre once said, and she can tell me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure, she once said, for every dollar you invest in kids, your return is $13. I believe that was actually from...
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 23)
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. I have a couple of questions for this page. It's a very expensive page in our book. It's very obvious that health has a lot of fabulous health and social programs, and one of the ones we've heard the most about in the last few years has been the child and family services program. I notice that the increase for the child and family services program in the budget this year is just under half a million dollars. I'm wondering if the Minister can speak to whether or not that is enough money for this program to cover what they would like to achieve with child and...
Can the Minister speak to what is the maximum amount available to an eligible business under SEED, and can an applicant seek funding under more than one of these entrepreneur support categories?
