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. Chair. Mr. Chair, when looking at the priorities of this entire Assembly, each department was tasked with seeing themselves in all of our priorities. And so for starters, with our looking for available land, we are specifically looking for is there ways that we can contribute to the intent to build more affordable housing in the territory. And I would also say that I am in addition to that also kind of keeping a lens on what might work well for future sites for early learning and child care centres. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yes, if somebody qualifies for income assistance and they do not have a fixed address and they are, you know, living on the land, absolutely go and speak with your client navigator and make sure that you have that conversation with them and that you are able to apply with them. It would, again, be the same response from the first question, which is that absolutely, people can access income assistance outside of their home community. They do not need a fixed address in order to access income assistance, and that if somebody qualifies, I absolutely...
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the position is not already staffed. And the other thing that I think is worthwhile adding in is I do have an assistant deputy minister of trades. Trades are very important, and he is waiting in the back room. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd say the MLA for Monfwi said it best in her statement today when she said that income assistance is really supposed to be a temporary solution. And so income assistance is there as a month to month solution for northern NWT residents who are having economic shortfalls, who are their needs outweigh their income on a month to month basis. And so, really, the program is there to be able to catch people. And with the changes that are happening to income assistance that we've been talking about here today, what we're really intending to see is more...
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. And, Mr. Chair, I appreciate the comments of the Member. And I'd say one of the crucial things or comment that the Member made that really struck me was his comments around know what we are doing and commit to doing it better and know what we're doing with our dollars. And one of the things that we really focused on when we were going through and looking at ways that we could get creative with our budgeting was looking at the dollars that we were not spending, and so that gave us the opportunity to actually kind of trim the fat off the top, if you will, to make...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I heard the Member's statement today, and I absolutely agree with the importance of having the opportunity to be out on the land. And so I wanted to assure the Member that an applicant can access income assistance benefits if they are temporary outside of their home community. And this definitely applies to residents that are participating in traditional activities as well. It would be very important, though, that the applicant who intends to go out on the land apply for income assistance before they go away and to notify their client navigator...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, part of the new program is to do a performance management plan that would report on some of the findings and some of the review that takes place of the program changes and not only of the program itself but also to the communities as well where clients live so that we are looking at it very holistically.
In addition to that we do have an idea, for example, of how many people participate in programs when we take a look at the mains every year and so there is information available on an annual basis, and I would be more than happy to learn from the...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in response to this question, I can definitely commit to the Member to reaching out to Aurora College and then providing the Member with more information. But this is definitely an interest area of mine as well, and I would like to offer the Member to sit down as well and find out exactly what the community is looking for. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
