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.
Minister of Education, Culture and Employment Minister of Industry, Tourism, and Investment
Statements in Debates
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 144)
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I'm going to work really hard not to repeat anything that's been said so far.
So first I wanted to start off with so the Minister indicated that the intent is to kind of go out and do some public relations in regards to this new program later on in the year with the intent of kind of looking at June or July. My concern is that revamps to income security include student financial assistance and student financial assistance has a deadline of June. And so I'm wondering how students will learn about changes to the program in advance of them actually...
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 144)
Yeah, thank you, Madam Chair. I wanted to move on to the infrastructure fund. And given that the goal of ECE is to increase spaces by 300 children in the life of the federal agreement, I'm wondering why we're not seeing an increase to this fund given that especially what we're seeing from lessons learned from Quebec was an urge to increase capacity upfront. Thank you.
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 144)
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, we're in a bit of an interesting jurisdiction where we are also very reliant not only on notforprofit day cares, but we have a lot of day homes. When my kids went to child care during the day, all three of them went to day home providers, which was wonderful. I still have relationships with those people and adore them. My kids spent more time with those people than they did with me. And so I'm wondering how does it work within the territory as far as these wage topups? Is it provided to both day cares and day home providers, and how does that division...
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 144)
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. No, that's helpful information. I'm also just looking at the total raise in funds for the early learning and child care program budget. And I'm wondering what portion of this will go to dollars needed for the increase in the wage grid that is expected to come in the next year? Thank you.
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 143)
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, my understanding is that there are staff within Justice that will work with people to secure housing in order to step in and stop the cycle of corrections to homelessness back to corrections back to homelessness. And so if this is what is supporting people through that fund for housing and homelessness, I'm wondering how the $179,000 actually funds that process? Thank you.
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 143)
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I wanted to ask about the unchanged proportion of offender reintegration program. This line item, my understanding, remains at $179,000. I'm wondering if the Minister can provide a little bit more information about what this line item actually funds. Is it just in salaries? Is it specific to the costs of reintegration in society? I am wondering if the Minister can provide more information there, please.
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 143)
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. So we sit here and we go through key activity after key activity as to, you know, where money's going to go and then, you know, later on as the dust settles and we look at public accounts, we see how dollars are actually spent. And one of the things that was noted is that the community justice key activity had the was the program with the highest sum of budgeted money that went under spent. And so how then does the Department of Justice identify how they're going to reallocate those dollars within their department? So I'm wondering if the Minister can speak...
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 143)
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I'm concerned about this one in the sense that and I know that the Minister and I have spoken both on the floor of the House and outside of the House in regards to the men's healing program. When we first started this Assembly, the men's it used to be the men's A New Day program. It transitioned from the way that it once ran and I'm not going to open that box again into the men's healing fund in the life of this Assembly. My concern is that what was once a much broader program is now a targeted program.
And my concern is that it is potentially...
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 143)
Thank you so much, Madam Chair. So, Madam Chair, the director, are they in directorate? Are they in community justice? Thank you.
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 143)
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, my questions are in regards to the men's healing program. I note that the contributions remain unchanged, and I'm wondering if the Minister can speak to how many communities are supported by this program currently and the anticipated number of communities that will be supported by that program fund in the following fiscal year?
