Member Kam Lake

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.

Kam Lake Electoral District

Committees

Caitlin Cleveland
Kam Lake
Minister's Office

Yellowknife NT X1A 2L9
Canada

P.O. Box
1320
Extension
11124
Minister of Education, Culture and Employment Minister of Industry, Tourism, and Investment

Statements in Debates

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 45)

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. So, Madam Chair, if I understand correctly, the Member is asking for updates on how students access post-secondary from high school within their communities. And so one of the things that the Department of Education, Culture and Employment has is career education advisors, and those career education advisors fill a very important role within our community schools right across the territory. And so they actually work with youth on a one-on-one basis to understand what their career goals are and what it is that they would like to do and ensure that students...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 45)

Well, certainly, no program from the GNWT launches itself. There's always a concerted effort behind it, Madam Chair. It was end of day back in January when we learned of a drastic cut to our allocation numbers of the nominee program from the federal government. Unfortunately for the deputy minister, he's been very gracious in giving me his contact numbers, so I was immediately on the phone with him. I asked for the program to be immediately paused. That was a political decision. I did not feel that we could in good faith launch a program within 12 hours that it's so drastically changed...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 45)

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. So, Madam Chair, the Education Act was amended in 2013 to include a definition of bullying, establish safe school regulations, which include the territorial school code of conduct and a requirement that education bodies ensure the development of safe school plans. It is worth adding in here that in 2022-2023 school year, a safe and caring school subcommittee was established under the authority of the deputy minister of Education, Culture And Employment, and ECE meets with representatives from education bodies annually to discuss implementation of the safe...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 45)

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. So absolutely, Madam Chair, the Member is right, there is a significant increase to the investment from 44 -- sorry, in 2024-2025, it was $43.8 million, and now it's $44.6 million there for income assistance in that line item. The actuals were lower in 2023-2024, and that was because of the delayed implementation of the new program. So the increase that you see there is just under a million dollars from main estimate to main estimate comparing those, and that is from the -- the Member is right, it is from the new program. And the other increases that you see...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 45)

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I'll start, and then would -- I'm sure the Members would love to also get to hear somebody else talk at this table as well, and I'll pass to deputy minister Fulford who I know has wonderful things to say.

So to start, some of the things that we are doing have to do -- you know, for example, in this section, we have apprenticeship allocation certification. We also have our labour market programs. And unfortunately, while we did see that the federal government did not reinstate our labour market programs across the country, we saw a $625 million dip...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 45)

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, what the Aurora College has said to this point is that the existing mode of delivery for courses through the community learning centres has not been working and that they want to re-envision what this looks like. So they've not said that they are completely vacating the adult education space. They have said they are going to be doing it different. So where I'm at right now is determining if their plan does meet the needs of the mandate of education, culture and employment. So I can't answer that here on the floor of the House right now. But they...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 45)

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. So, Madam Chair, the reason that this program was certainly implemented back in the day was in hopes of seeing more students return to the North in hopes of ultimately seeing our population numbers grow. It was part of the strategy for population growth. We did not see, as everybody knows, our population grow as a result of this program. Certainly, if the intent was to see this program returned to the budgets of the Legislative Assembly, I would not have the authority to just start doing it again. I would have to go to -- through regular budgetary processes in...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 45)

Thank you very much. Our commitment was to relaunch the program after hearing from them. So we listened to them. We took into account their perspectives and relaunched the program. Madam Chair, there was no commitments made at the meeting because, of course, needed to ensure that we were weighing all of the facts and balancing everything out and putting together a program at the end of the day that we felt was fair. Thank you.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 45)

Thank you, Madam Chair. Well, Madam Chair, I would hope that at the end of the day all adults, including all of us, are being respectful of one another. But I would also love for teachers to share with my kids how to exercise their civic responsibilities and civic duties and get them involved in politics and that -- you know, politics is everything from do you think you should be allowed to wear a ball cap in a classroom. And so I think that at the end of the day making sure that while teachers aren't indoctrinating kids that we absolutely are ensuring that our kids are developing critical...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 45)

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. No, I appreciate the Member's consistent advocacy for the people that he serves. Mahsi.