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.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in this House the board of governors does not have a seat and so you get to hold me accountable. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I assume I would need to know more information about what the Member is looking for as far as outcomes are concerned. But at this point, what I could point to for sure are the desire to increase deliverables from income assistance clients within the business plans, which speak to the number of income assistance clients, for example, that are employed and changes to the lives of income assistance clients like that and being able to support them through those pathways.
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to update you on crucial improvements to the Northwest Territories Income Assistance Program.
July, the Department of Education, Culture and Employment will introduce a new targeted income assistance program for seniors and persons with disabilities. These anticipated changes, first announced last year, are ready to roll out across the territory next month.
Income assistance programs provide essential support for residents in financial need. Clients will receive a base benefit amount based on the number of people in their household and the northern market basket measure...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have a host of client navigators across the territory that work in small communities. They work in regional centres. And they work in Yellowknife. And these client navigators work closely with career development officers. They have, of course, a very intimate knowledge of student financial assistance, which also falls under the income security division. And so these pathways to employment, pathways to entrepreneurship, they are absolutely things that these individuals are trained to support clients through. And so whether it is somebody wanting...
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I'd be happy to pass it to the deputy minister if the Member would like, but I can also let the Member know that communication is where I came from, and so it's very important to me that we have a communication division that is very well resourced and that we are able to actively and proactively communicate with members of the public, especially when a lot of the programming that comes out of this department is crucial and exceptionally important to residents of the territory. And so I can reassure the Member that the I have not had been...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, while the department no longer requires clients of income assistance to partake in productive choices, I do understand the goals of the Member, and I have really appreciated all the Member's statements that he has done on income assistance. It has provided me with the opportunity to learn about what his goals are and what the realities are in the communities that he represents.
With that being said, I want to confirm for the Member that as part of the new income assistance program that there is a performance measurement plan that is intended within that...
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, it is one of those ones where, you know, we look at the way that things operate and sometimes we have ideas how to make them better. Sometimes they work out. Sometimes they don't. This is one that the department is very confident will help us grow our resources for culture and language, specifically especially language revitalization. There's you know and like the Member said, none of us will disagree with that. I think one of the things that's really critical about this as well is we were able to internally fund this position. We did not have to go...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think that we this theme day could not have come at a better time because we are at the beginning of what I see as a very exciting time within the department of education and within income assistance. We are on the verge of entering into this new program. It starts in the month of July. That new program will see increased opportunities for client navigators to be able to work with income assistance clients and to be able to work on those pathways. And part of the information coming out of that will be through this performance management plan...
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Yes, Mr. Chair, it was immediately taken down and an apology was immediately issued to residents of the Northwest Territories. And right away, following that, checks and balances were put in place with staff to ensure that something like that did not happen again, and we were able to use our existing resources to make sure that that was done. Thank you.
