Deputy Premier Minister of Finance Minister of Infrastructure Minister Responsible for the Northwest Territories Power Corporation
Caroline Wawzonek was first elected to the 19th Legislative Assembly in 2019 as the Member for Yellowknife South. Ms. Wawzonek served as Minister of Justice, Minster of Finance, Minister responsible for the Status of Women and the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment. In 2023, Ms. Wawzonek was acclaimed to the 20th Legislative Assembly and returned to Executive Council as Deputy Premier, Minister of Finance, Minister of Infrastructure and the Minister Responsible for the NWT Power Corporation.
Ms. Wawzonek holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Calgary (2000) and a law degree from the University of Toronto, Faculty of Law (2005). Her academic journey included language studies in China and Taiwan, as well as legal internships in the Philippines and England. Born in Calgary, AB, she has called Yellowknife home since 2007.
After establishing her criminal law practice post-admission to the Law Society of the NWT, Ms. Wawzonek appeared in all levels of NWT courts and engaged in circuit court travel. She later joined Dragon Toner, expanding her practice to general litigation and administrative law until becoming a member of the 19th Assembly.
Since 2007, she has taken on leadership roles in the legal community, including the presidency of the Law Society of the Northwest Territories (LSNT), section chair for the Canadian Bar Association Northwest Territories Branch (CBA-NT), and committee membership in various working groups. Her community involvement extends to appointments in multiple Yellowknife organizations, and she received a national award in 2017 for her contributions to Canadian Women in Law.
Ms. Wawzonek, a mother of two, enjoys running, paddleboarding, and time outdoors.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there is no surveillance being conducted. Mr. Speaker, I understand that these meeting minutes continue to be a source of great consternation. They are minutes. They are taken by a note taker, they are not transcripts, and they certainly are not something to which I would say speak on my behalf about what the department is or is not doing or the priorities of the department. So just to put that context on the quotes that are coming, again there are notes taken by someone at a meeting.
That said, Mr. Speaker, philanthropic organizations, this quote, this has...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there are meetings between officials happening across sectors. So the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment, in particular, meets with Northwest Territories Tourism on a very regular basis. They are funded to do the majority of the marketing on behalf of the Northwest Territories and are really a key partner involved in understanding what's happening in that industry.
So what I understood last week's conversation to be about maybe reaching out individually to some of the operators who might not be as directly involved in the tourism association. I...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is work that was done by the three territories jointly, along with the federal government, and funding was provided accordingly. The statement of work, requirement of work was drafted jointly by the three territories. I think that was a working group in fact, and then with funding. So as the project went underway, and was already conceptualized, most certainly they did go and ask industry who should be participating. The purpose of the study was to determine how to increase investment in exploration and the mineral resource sector in the three...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, Mr. Speaker, this is now definitely probably outside the realm of anything I have the expertise to speak to. I mean, again though, in terms of procurement in the Northwest Territories and achieving the goal of maximizing benefits to residents and to businesses, maximizing keeping dollars circulating in the North, that is a mandate for the whole-of-government. It's a mandate that applies to every one of the Ministers, not just to me, and I am quite confident that the working group that we have set up to do procurement review for the GNWT can, and I'm sure has, but...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the more specific we get the less I'm probably able to make commitments here on the floor. The negotiated contracts policy right now, which is actually a policy of EIA, not Finance, not ITI, not Infrastructure, not procurement shared services, is one that is meant to provide a tool or a mechanism by which we could go directly to an Indigenous government. But, of course, as soon as there's more than one business that comes and requests a contract under a negotiated contract policy, the assumption is it goes to public tender. The result of that being is that...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, given the multiple times we've now spoken about these meetings, I'm not sure I agree with the characterization of them as being particularly secret in any fashion. And indeed even after the last round of exchanges that the Member and I had on this, the Chamber of Mines themselves put a number of the meeting minutes onto their own website to demonstrate that they too are more than happy to make known the fact that they are working to advance the interests of the industry with the GNWT.
As for the ongoing work there, Mr. Speaker, I certainly took note of the...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we very fortunately in this government have the LNR departments all working well together. That is Lands, Natural Resources, and Environment all working together. In this particular instance, ENR happens to be the lead in terms of trying to work through a process or governance where we might, if there were to be opportunities to work with large organizations, is to bring funding alternatives on conservation initiatives, then we want to ensure, again, as a collective and as the GNWT and as Northerners, that we'd be doing that within a structure that is for...
Thank you, Madam Speaker. I wish to table the following document: Status of Women Council of the Northwest Territories 20202021 Annual Report. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, the vaccination policy has always been one of to get a proof of vaccination in and, you know, I hope people aren't doing that, again, because of this; they're doing it because the vaccinations are the best way for them to stay safe and for them to keep their families safe and for as public servants, to keep members of the public safe.
If they're choosing to not provide a proof of vaccination, there's always been the option within the policy that they could then rely on a combination of PPE and testing. There may well be situations that if an employee is...
