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, this past summer the accountability framework was put in place for Aurora College. This framework is relevant for all post-secondary institutions in the Northwest Territories. It outlines reporting required by ECE each year and helps to identify the financial stability of institutions and if programs are operating effectively. So I look forward to using that framework in years to come. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it is no secret, I think, to anybody in the Northwest Territories that access to therapeutic services absolutely is important part of access to education. However, I'm not the Minister of health and social services. But I will continue to point out the need for the access to therapeutic services within our schools. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, they have had about a year and a half as a new board. They now have a new president that they are working with as well. In the last year and a half that the board has been around, they've also now, in November of last year, gotten one of -- it's a trimerical governance system. So one of the additional boards was put in place in November of 2023, and then the Indigenous knowledge-keepers board was put in place in April of this year. And so they are putting all of these pieces together to ensure that they have a functioning trimerical board system...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would be happy to both table and share publicly and online the next mandate agreement between myself and the college. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, at the same time that I'm meeting with the Minister of health and social services, I'm also doing research on what are other options and what are other jurisdictions doing. That is work that I am doing as a Minister because I recognize that there is a gap here. There absolutely -- I want to say there absolutely is a gap here. I think it's important that we acknowledge that.
Some of this gap is being funded through programs like Jordan's Principle. We currently have a tremendous amount of money coming from Jordan's Principle into the territory into...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the mandate letter that currently stands, that was the previous one that would have expired, so to say in July but still stands today, does very clearly say establish a polytechnic university. As it is very much the will of both myself as Minister of education, as well as the board of governors, I would fully expect for that to be a clear priority laid out in the mandate letter going forward. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, like I said I can certainly work with the Minister of health and social services. These are very important things that we're talking about. Access to therapeutic services is critical for access to education. But, you know, I'm not going to stand here and take over the mandate of health and social services because it's not fair to our education bodies, it's not fair to our teachers. They're not clinicians, and they are not able to take this on, neither are the education bodies. So I'm very keen to work with health and social services on this one...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm certainly using all of the tools that I have at my disposal. Currently, at the end of September, I met with the board to actually sit down and hear what their priorities are, what their concerns are, how their year in operation has gone, and to sit down and figure out, okay, where do we align and ensure that we align on the transformation of Aurora College. They have informed me that they are certainly committed to this and that they want to be able to continue to work closely together on this collaborative process and to continue to meet regularly...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, industry has been very candid and transparent on this one. Their number one ask and barrier for investment attraction is clean energy. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have said it in this House before, I've said it to the board of governors before, I am absolutely committed to this transition. Thank you.
