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. 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. Mr. Speaker, this was something that the Department of Education, Culture and Employment did used to do at one point; however, with the NWT Human Rights Act, issuing payments through a voucher system is seen to be contrary to sections 5 and sections 11 of the NWT Human Rights Act. And so I am open to other suggestions from my colleagues, but I want to ensure that whatever we do is in line with the law and with the Human Rights Act. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And, Mr. Speaker, I think it will be an interesting week next week because we already have some kind of competing mindsets. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
So, Mr. Speaker, the productive choices are still a requirement within the income assistance program. And back in 2020 when changes were starting to happen within the income assistance review, productive choices were switched to what's called a wellness selfcare productive choice, which means that there's no requirement of reporting. And the reason for this is when the department went out and did the...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in addition to the contribution agreement that funded the design work, the geotechnical work has been completed and this included drilling five bore holes in the site that was selected by the community. In this process, there was a collection of soil samples that was done, and this was done in order to determine the type of foundation that would be required. This also included ground temperature monitoring installing ground temperature monitoring installation or instrumentation, sorry. Say that five times. Testing was also done on the soil...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member from the Sahtu for bringing up this project. The Standing Committee on Social Development in the last term had the opportunity to sit down with the Behdzi Ahda' First Nation in order to learn about this project and hear from them, and so it's very nice to be able to be on this side and continue on with this project. So absolutely, yes, the department has been working with Behdzi Ahda' First Nation for the design of the new school in Colville Lake. And right now, ECE is working with a baseline that was determined by the school...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member for acknowledging that not all communities are the same and not all expectations across the territory are the same. As far as pathfinding within the Government of the Northwest Territories, education, culture and employment has client navigators that help income assistance clients access the program and work through the program as well. These client navigators are found in most communities across the territory. And they're not only responsible for looking in just simply income assistance. These are people who know about programs in...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member for the question. This definitely would be quite a huge undertaking, and I'm excited to learn of Nunavut's undertaking of it and the study that they're currently doing. I know that the department has reached out to Nunavut to gain insights into the outcomes of their feasibility study so that we can learn from our sister territory as to what they're learning. But right now here in the territory, we've been doing, as the Member indicated, revisions to our income assistance program, and those revisions really well, they came with an...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the dollars aren't awarded or allotted by region. They are subsidies that are provided to child care providers across the Northwest Territories. So it would be the subsidies would be in relation to how many children, if those children are fulltime or parttime, and information that is specific to each child care provider, whether or not that is a daycare provider or a day home. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, inflation was not something that was built into the original agreement, and this is something that we are hearing across the country from all jurisdictions that have and share the same concerns. The funding agreements were signed before we saw record inflation across the territory, and unfortunately, we are all all jurisdictions are in the same boat with this one. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I know that the department is doing their best to work with stakeholders in the sector in order to determine what those numbers are going to look like. I know that in some instances, the department is actually working through individual numbers with individual organizations and actually sitting down with people and comparing so that they know exactly what the other is talking about, what the other is going through and what one another's goals are, because there's a real desire both not just with myself but within the department to see not less...
