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, with all of our mining projects -- well, our diamond mining projects, we do have socio-economic agreements which in them do contain northern employment goals in them. So that is baked in to a lot of what we do in the territory. And it is always our goal to ensure that our industry in the Northwest Territories is serving and benefitting Northerners. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I feel like by the question, the Member already knows the answer. Absolutely, our education outcomes are linked to employment a hundred percent. And this is why within the Northwest Territories we're doing things like looking at the ELCC program in conjunction with the Government of Canada and making sure that our ELCC service providers have education and certification that they need in order to provide support at the zero to age 4 level. Then we're looking at our curriculum renewal. We're switching to the BC curriculum which is also going to help...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I know that some form of report from the environmental site assessments will be made public, and I look forward to ensuring that I share that with the Member once it is out there.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I'm very thankful for this question. I had the opportunity in June to travel with a number of deputy ministers down to the Pine Point mine site where we had an incredible tour of what was there before, what they envision being there tomorrow and years down the road. The good news here is that we've got a few years to put together the trades people that they need. One of the things that I asked them for on that tour was their workforce planning document of exactly what trades people that they will need so that we can make sure that we're supporting that in the...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd say one of the strongest workforce planning documents and tools that we use within the Government of the Northwest Territories is our Skills 4 Success document. And that document has a -- it acts as kind of a Bible, if you will, of what jobs are and will be in demand over the course of the next 20 years in the Northwest Territories. So that document works by looking at, you know, what are the expected capital infrastructure happenings in the Northwest Territories and what skill sets are we going to need. So that talks about positions of...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, you know, I hear the Member. I heard the Member's statement. I hear the Member's concerns of her constituents that she continues to raise. The intent of doing the site assessments was to determine whether or not the site was, even to begin, viable for a North Slave campus. And so as always, there is a commitment to keep the public informed, to seek meaningful input on decisions that absolutely may affect residents of the Northwest Territories, and so I want to recognize and acknowledge that the Tin Can Hill is obviously a site that's very...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I will admit that there are some fine lines between what decisions were made with the GNWT and what decisions will ultimately be the board of governors for Aurora College. So I will acknowledge the Member's frustration and that, but I'm happy to continue that conversation.
The phase two of the site assessment is now done. It is highly technical information that I'm going to be honest that is something that I need to be able to work with the experts within multiple departments in order to understand what is required so that I can make sure that I'm...
Mr. Speaker, skilled tradespeople are needed everywhere, now more than ever. Apprentices and journeypersons are a vital part of our economy. They literally keep the wheels turning, buildings standing, water flowing, and the lights on. These careers offer good pay, advancement opportunities, mobility, and lifelong learning. Becoming a tradesperson means taking charge of your future and aligning your interests and skills with a rewarding career. Getting there requires certification, and the Government of the Northwest Territories is here to provide comprehensive support. We offer career planning...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think it's worth saying that this project is led by the federal government. We do not as the GNWT hold the reins on this project. I think that it is an accumulation of everything that I have mentioned here today. It is also a matter of making sure that projects are right-sized for the Northwest Territories which I know in having sat down with one of the key leaders on that project that they are doing what they can to make sure that projects are broken down and they do have a focus of northern procurement. However, they do work within the federal...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I will have to check in with the department that actually owns those reports. It is not ECE that owns those reports at the end of the day. Thank you.
