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, the review was done in the 19th Assembly, and it was anticipated that the changes would actually come into play for residents of the Northwest Territories before the start of the 20th Assembly, but this project has been held up and delayed due to system requirements on our IT side, and so it is anticipated that these changes will be seen by residents coming in the summer of this year. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And, Mr. Speaker, I listened to the Member's statement today, and I absolutely agree with the Member that all of our residents have great potential and that it is our job as their family, friends, and neighbours to ensure that they have the support to reach that potential if they want it and if they need it. Within the department of education, there are career counsellors, there are employability assessments and resume and cover letter development help if people want it. There's interview skill development, career action planning. There's job search help as...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can say that the previous Minister of Education, Culture and Employment was very open to looking at new ways to see this project go forward and really wanted to work with the community to see it to its fruition. The community initially presented several alternative options for this project, including a public/private partnership, build/lease, third party funding contributions, and also potentially negotiated contracts. At the time, the department indicated that they needed more information in order to consider moving away from kind of the...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in terms of the progress of this project, so education, culture and employment has a contribution agreement with the Behdzi Ahda' First Nation, and this contribution agreement agreed to fund the completion and submission of a schematic design and a class C construction estimate for the new school. And this also includes a geotechnical investigation of the proposed site for the project. The First Nation contracted an engineering and architectural consultant directly themselves to complete the work. And unfortunately, while the contribution...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, certainly, as Members of the Legislative Assembly, we spend a tremendous amount of time supporting residents learn about different programs across the GNWT, and I know that this is work that is also part of the homelessness strategy that lives right now within EIA with the Premier's office. And I absolutely can commit to providing information and also seeing what I can do from my part to make sure that information is accessible. For sure, I'm absolutely open to working with Members and welcome any ideas they have any time to make sure that people...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And my colleague to the right just reminded me to slow down as well, so thank you for that. I am always happy to speak with social development. Social development will always have a warm place in my heart, and I'm always happy to be invited. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you to the Member for bringing that up. Those sticky dollars are so important to the Northwest Territories and to our economy. And that is exactly the purpose of conversations like we had at Roundup, to be able to find out from industry that is the up and coming mines, the mines that are about to open, the mines that are in the process of opening, what they need from us, how we can connect them with Indigenous governments to ensure that right from the getgo they're doing their projects properly and they're having the right conversations. So ITI is absolutely...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member for the question. Mr. Speaker, I can honestly say that when I sat down for the first time with both ECE and ITI, I was very honest with both departments in that I wanted our efforts getting to prepare residents for the mine closure and especially the workers to be whatever we were doing to be purposeful so that we were not losing this opportunity. So I can make that commitment here as well to my colleagues that that is what I have said and that is the direction I have given.
Mr. Speaker, this mine closure absolutely will be felt across the...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member for the question. And I think it's a fair question. And in acknowledgement of the fact that the sector and stakeholders are working with the department, I want to say absolutely as soon as possible with a target of early March so that they have that information before going into the next fiscal year and renewed kind of funding agreement piece is there. But I want to be respectful of the fact that they're still in conversations together, still working through it and want to give them that time to really be able to come those...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we just had the opportunity as Cabinet well, there was four of us, plus we also had another MLA from the other side, the MLA for the Sahtu, that went down to Roundup in the last month. We had the opportunity to speak to many different players, so to speak, in the critical minerals and mineral extraction field and landscape. I also have the opportunity in the next month to travel to Ottawa where I will still be continuing to have conversations with private industry, with Indigenous governments, and also with the federal government. And all of...
