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, one of the things that I'm hearing quite regularly is this concern over closed doors and there's such a struggle to get your name on a list, to get your child in a door to begin with, then to start potentially losing those spaces is very scary for parents. It means that they're not able to go to work, it means they're not able to pay their mortgage, it means they're not able to continue to live; they're not able to support themselves. And so in light of all these concerns and the threat of day cares potentially having to close their doors, what is ECE doing...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Minister for that. Mr. Speaker, the other thing that is currently on the go right now with ECE in regards to child care is determining a wage grid for child care workers. I'm wondering what standards are being used to determine the child care wage grid and will the standards be based on minimum wage, living wage, salaries currently paid to similarly educated ELCC providers based in schools; where is the starting point for this conversation? Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I remember these sunny days as a child. The anticipation of after school shenanigans, bike rides, and dock jumping in back bay and, of course, counting down the days to Raven Mad Daze. But Yellowknife streets have changed. Today the challenges that plague the halls of apartment buildings all winter have spilled into the streets for summer.
This isn't an easy issue to tackle in two minutes. It's layered in both history, root causes, tried bandaid solutions, and potential longterm solutions. This town has cycled through responses to escalated public intoxicationfueled violence from...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it's Friday so I figured I'd seek unanimous consent to return to oral questions, number 7 on the orders of the day. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, child care providers are concerned that given the GNWT cap adjustment in annual revenues that's in place and will also be and also sorry, that they're implementing these wage grids that they will not be able to meet the funding shortfalls that they might see, especially given the rising costs that we're seeing, whether it's through insurance, electricity, food costs. This has been highlighted multiple times in this House over the course of the implementation of the new child care subsidy structures. So how will ECE ensure that funding shortfalls...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my first questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Earlier this week I delivered a Member's statement about child care struggles in the Northwest Territories. It's one of the top things that I'm hearing about right now from the people that I serve. I also tabled a document that day by the C.D. Howe that outlined potential solutions. One such solution pointed to shared equity mortgage program to increase child care space infrastructure. Is the GNWT or ECE willing to explore creative solutions like this to increase infrastructure...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, sometimes accessibility can be the issue. Saskatchewan provides tenants with an online fillable complaints form to launch an environmental health investigation into unhealthy housing. I'm not aware of a similar ease of use form that's available here that initiates an instant investigation. So I'm wondering if the government will consider a more accessible, efficient mechanism to trigger investigation by the environmental health officer through the rental office? Thank you.
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 159)
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. There's a lot of friendly and familiar faces in the gallery today. I'd like to acknowledge Kelsey Wrightson of Dechinta. And also Dechinta's hide tanning camp is open to the public and all set up and ready to go, so that's very exciting right now as well.
I'd like to recognize a couple of former Kam Lake constituents as well. There's Jennifer DallmanSanders and above me, who I cannot see but wish I could see their wonderful happy faces, are a team of lifelong northern educators, past Kam Lakers, Colleen Eckert and Arthur Osborne. A huge congratulations to...
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 159)
That was my only question. Thank you.
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 159)
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I am pleased to speak to Bill 72, Opioid Damages and Health Care Costs Recovery Act in my capacity as chair of social development.
This bill allows for the Government of the Northwest Territories to participate in a class action lawsuit filed by the government of BC to allow the GNWT to recover health care expenses incurred from opioid damages. Committee supports this legislation.
During standing committee's review of Bill 72, committee heard from Indigenous governments and community stakeholders. Committee heard that at the time BC filed the class...
