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 88)
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, it strikes me quite interesting that or it strikes me quite hard that one of the biggest uncertainties in the Northwest Territories is housing, even for the Housing Corporation, how to operate, how to build new houses, how to maintain existing ones. And so I'm wondering if there is a plan within the Housing Corporation, either within the GNWT or within the federal government, to create more certainty for the budgets going forward, because there is a huge amount of fluctuation and a huge amount of uncertainty within the corporation as to how they...
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 88)
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. So, Madam Chair, in the press release that we all got this week, it did identify that there was 213 units that will undergo major repairs, modernization over the next three years. One of the things that I'm noting is that in the document we're looking at right now, it does have 176 units of, I'm guessing, those 213 units, which would only leave 37 units left over. So is it the intent of the Housing Corporation to go over additional go after, sorry, additional federal dollars in future years in order to increase the number of units that they're providing...
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 88)
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. So I didn't hear a dollar number in that, and so I'm wondering if a dollar number does exist for that. Thank you.
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 88)
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Does the Minister have a number of how many units are currently needing repair that are occupied?
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 88)
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Are there any other units other than the 102 that are currently under repair that are sitting empty that might not be currently under repair, just to clarify. Thank you.
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 88)
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I give notice that, on Tuesday, December 7th, 2021, I will move the following motion:
Now therefore I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, that Ms. Bronwyn Watters be appointed as the Equal Pay Commissioner in accordance with the Public Services Act by the Commissioner of the Northwest Territories as recommended by the Legislative Assembly;
And further, that the Speaker be authorized to communicate the effective date of the appointment to the Commissioner. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, and I appreciate that information. I think anecdotally from what I am learning, alongside some constituents, is that the process of going through the recognizing of a degenerative disease and then from there being able to go through the process and begin the process of being diagnosed is really a difficult, difficult stage of the of the entire journey and that we do not have, in the Northwest Territories, specialists who are able to help people through that process and that can be very, very difficult because you end up kind of trapped in this area of not...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, before COVID, we sat as equals and set the priorities for the 19th Assembly. Even then, we recognized the shortage of resident healthcare workers and tasked the government to reduce the number of health worker vacancies and our reliance on locums.
Mr. Speaker, there is significant strength in Northerners serving Northerners, providing trauma informed care. This not only fulfills our priority, it creates sustainable succession plans and recognizes the primary role education and meaningful employment play in connecting all community health indicators. I...
Yeah, thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And I appreciate that commitment from the Minister. I think there are multiple opportunities here for the government to look at this as a whole rather than silos of divisions within departments within the government so that, really, we can look at how we can work together to accomplish the priorities of not only the 19th Assembly but every Assembly afterwards as a unit. And so I'm wondering if part of that work will be not solely on the Indigenous recruitment framework but also just on GNWT policies as a whole looking at more of a departmentwide or even...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm wondering if there is an appeals process for those that are denied education leave by their direct supervisors. Thank you.
