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, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I always like to do my best to answer questions, but I simply don't have the level of detail about how particular dollars are calculated for each family and how their children are calculated in that. I'd be really happy to get that information from the department and to be able to share that with the Member. So if the Member is willing to either do a written question in the House so that that can be shared widely or, if the Member would prefer, I can correspond by email in regards to the finer details of that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Government of the Northwest Territories is committed to revitalizing the Great Slave Lake commercial fishery. The Northwest Territories has a long history of commercial fishing. From the 1950s to the 1990s, production varied between 750,000 to 2 million kilograms per year. But, in the last twenty years, production has declined due to several factors that reduced fishers' income while the cost of fishing went up. To reverse this decline, in 2017 the Government of the Northwest Territories released a strategy for revitalizing the Great Slave Lake...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, clients who are denied would be able to work with their client navigator to be able to access the appeal process and would be able to access that right away. It is recommended that they do that immediately once they find out that they are denied. Sometimes it's something as simple as paperwork is missing from the client and the client navigator, again, can take residents through what information is missing and how they can rectify that together. And if that doesn't work out, they can go through the appeals process.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I appreciated the Member referencing the press release from August. Unfortunately, the Education, Culture and Employment Income Assistance Program, which was slated to be brought into force before we began the 20th Assembly, has unfortunately not been brought into force yet and so those changes have not yet occurred. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have a tremendous amount of training opportunities and education opportunities for people here in the Northwest Territories. And I believe that, really, the response to this question is an allofgovernment response where really it's about making sure that, A, people have access to this training; B, that people are prepared to enter into any kind of training that we are making available, and so I think that this is a coordinated response as far as making sure that people can put food on the table, that people have access to food, that students...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this working group is responsible for implementing and coordinating activities to support the multiyear Giant Mine Remediation Project SocioEconomic Agreement, or strategy, and a staff member that we do have sitting on this group is a labour development and standards division staff member, and their role in this group is, I think, a very important one because they provide information on labour market information, training needs, and also employment standards perspectives. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is probably a little bit more of an ECE question and kind of a marriage between the two departments, which is so nice to be able to wear both hats. But as far as Aurora College is concerned with that date, they have informed us that they do have a funding agreement with CIRNAC to develop courses related to mining remediation. These courses are currently under development and while Aurora College is at an arm's length, I'm more than happy to follow up with any of the particular information with the chair of the board that Members might want. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the remediation of the Norman Wells oil field will be managed by the owner of that lease that's on that property, which is Imperial Oil Resources. However, what I can say is due to ongoing development in the planning process on that remediation, the Government of the Northwest Territories, while it doesn't have detailed information, is doing what it can in order to try and make sure that there is some synergy happening. Like the MLA said, this is Canada's longest operating onshore oil field which definitely is a legacy but one that has some...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I was reminded to slow down so my apologies to the interpreters.
Getting the MARS system and going on a journey to MARS with the Member is definitely a priority, and I look forward to continuing to find out if there are solutions to getting this done quicker. But I am also looking to make sure that it is done properly. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following two documents: 20222023 Annual Report on Official Languages; and, Aurora College Annual Report 20222023. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
