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 8)
Thank you, Madam Chair. My last point is more, I guess, a comment, just in regard to the point that the Member for Yellowknife North brought up in regard to the red tape report card from the Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses. I get concerned when we talk about establishing a working group as far as how we measure that and where that information that the working group generates, where it goes, what happens with it if there are no teeth behind it, and so I would really encourage Cabinet to find a way of holding themselves accountable to the information the working group does gather...
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 8)
Thank you, Madam Chair. In terms of increasing tourism in the NWT, with a focus on increasing tourism outside Yellowknife, one of the items under "How We Will Demonstrate Progress" refers to the number of tourism operator licences outside Yellowknife. Just as a comment, one of the concerns I've heard from my riding of Kam Lake is southern operators coming north and operating tourism businesses within our city, and then turning around and taking that money south again. How does this government intend to make sure that our tourism operators are northern operators and that we are supporting...
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 8)
Thank you, Madam Chair. My concern and the reason I am asking this is because all three of these projects are very expensive and projects we don't necessarily have the funding for in the length of this government. The reason I am asking is because I would like to know what our investment is going to be in the study of three highly expensive infrastructure projects that we aren't even sure we can afford to do at this point in time. Thank you.
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 8)
Thanks, Madam Chair. I am wondering if the Premier can speak to the cost of doing the items found under "Advance the development of the Mackenzie Valley Highway, the Slave Geological Province Corridor, and the Taltson Hydro Expansion Project." Thank you.
Has the Minister been in contact with the Union of Northern Workers or the Northwest Territories Teachers' Association recently, given that we are about to enter into new collective bargaining later this year?
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think what I would like to know for my final question is: does any GNWT department have an environmental assessment of the Arnica Inn?
Just so that I am on the same page, then, the government did not not support the project of the women's society and have asked the women's society to resubmit their application?
Mr. Speaker, the 413-kilometre Slave Geological Province Road has a $1 billion price tag. That is $2.4 million per kilometre. For the cost of a quarter kilometre of road, we could have housed 42 of our territory's homeless.
Almost a year ago, the Yellowknife Women's Society began discussions with the City of Yellowknife and the GNWT about reopening the Arnica Inn to provide 42 transitional housing units for the homeless clientele of the Yellowknife Women's Society. The vast majority of these people are Indigenous single men or women displaced from smaller communities across the NWT and Nunavut...
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 8)
Thank you, Madam Chair. I am just looking at the second point here, "Expand the reach of energy conservation and efficiency initiatives." It notes that the intention is to partner with key stakeholders to provide these initiatives to those most in need. What I have found in talking to people within my constituency is that quite often our thresholds either are so low that people are not able to take advantage of programming or, if people do meet the threshold, they don't have the financing to actually go out and do the work and then be reimbursed down the road by organizations like the Arctic...