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. And thank you to the Member for the question. So the Don't Be a Butt Head campaign as well as the Drop The Pop campaigns are both campaigns that are put together and administered by the Department of Health and Social Services. They have a few health promotion campaigns that are on the go right now not the Minister of health, though, but they do have programs for tobacco cessation. Healthy eating, that is something that also carries through into our schools, and MACA supplies funding for after school snacks and after school programs. So a bit of some kind of...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'll start by saying that the BC curriculum has not been fully implemented into every grade and every classroom across the territory. That said, the NWT adapted curriculum of the BC curriculum covers a broad range of health promotion topics, and these include things like balanced lifestyles, understanding personal choices, as well as social and environmental factors, healthy relationships, and managing mental health and emotional and social wellbeing.
In addition to the BC curriculum, Mr. Speaker, we also have our child and youth counselling...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I absolutely welcome any conversation with the college about supports that they need in order to continue forward with transformation, which is a key part of their mandate and a key part of the mandate document that was agreed to between Aurora College and the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment of the day. That mandate document expires in July of this year, and I have no doubt that transformation will continue to be a key part of that mandate document and therefore, given that up like, for the last six months, we've had a great working relationship...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member for the question. So the Centre for Learning, Teaching and Innovation was established in May of 2020, closed in 2023. That centre was actually funded by CanNor, a project through CanNor. As far as I am aware, there has not been any additional funding through CanNor that has been given to the college for this centre. And I as Minister have not received a request for additional funding for that centre for Aurora College. It's not something that we could fund from dollars from within at this time. But if I were to receive a request, it...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is an interesting one where when we breakdown silos and do things a little bit more together as departments, we end up sharing questions on the floor of the House as well, which I know can be challenging for everybody. So the clinical counsellors that are found within communities and within schools are fall under the mandate of the Minister of Health and Social Services, but I don't want the Member to waste her question either so I can confirm that while this position was filled in Fort Providence, it has become vacant and for any further questions on...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, absolutely, I think that that is something that will need to be publicly shared and reflected. I think it's also important that we reflect on the good work that has been done by the Aurora College transformation team as well as Aurora College. There are a total of 80 deliverables in this transformation, of which 66 of them were completed by the Aurora College transformation team. And since Aurora College has taken over, they have continued on the along on those milestones, and they've completed an additional three milestones in the last few short...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the transformation team for Aurora College was in place until 2023 at which time it was disbanded. At that time or sorry, in the life of the transformation, the $1 million that I've been speaking about with Members on the floor of this House this week and last week was agreed to by ECE senior management, along with Aurora College senior management, to be used for the purposes of transformation, and that's where it's at right now, is that Aurora College was going to use those dollars for that purpose. As far as putting kind of putting the band...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, in addition to the dollars I've just said, the million dollars a year are what Aurora College is currently getting. And then in addition to that, they do have their operational funding dollars that they're able to redirect towards that as well, which is the dollars that they would normally use for the Bachelor of Education and Bachelor of Social Work program that are currently not running. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I'm in a very interesting position where it's not really my story to tell. It's the Aurora College's story to tell. It's the board of governors' story to tell. So just like last time when I it's not my story to tell. So my last time when I was in front of this House, I recommended to committee that they have Aurora College in front of them. They have done that. And I recommend that they ask Aurora College what their schedule is as far as their master plan for their facilities and also for their housing and what they are doing in order to achieve those goals. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I don't have any information at my fingertips right now as far as the you know, when these things will appear in the capital. I would love to get an update on that for committee, and I can commit to doing so. But, really, there's a lot of steps that need to happen before we end up with a bricks and mortar institution anywhere in the territory in addition to what we have right now. I know that in speaking to the board governors, their prime focus right now is student housing. Thank you.
