Caroline Wawzonek

Member Yellowknife South

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.
 

Committees

Yellowknife South
Member's Office

Yellowknife NT X1A 2L9
Canada

P.O. Box
1320
Email
Extension
12177
Deputy Premier, Minister of Finance, Minister of Infrastructure, and Minister Responsible for the Northwest Territories Power Corporation
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Minister
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Statements in Debates

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 87)

Yeah, thank you, Madam Chair. I didn't bring the mains with me either, Madam Chair. But it looks like Minister Thompson might have some information he can offer.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 87)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the vaccination requirements are not different are, again, asked please, first of all, please go get your vaccine. It's your best way to protect yourself and to then provide that.

What does change department or division by division is in fact the specific guidelines around personal protective equipment. That's to accommodate the fact that certain different workplaces will have different levels of need or different levels of potential exposure to members of the public or to one another, you know, an office environment versus a frontline environment. But all...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 87)

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, at this point the studies there are studies that are being done, geotechnical, the traditional knowledge studies, there's rooting studies. There's certainly also a fairly significant amount of outreach that needs to occur with Indigenous governments and certainly some visioning in terms of how we'll be structuring relationships going forward on the project. So all of that work is underway. It's just that not all necessarily happening within the current fiscal year and so that's where some of the money that's being allocated is being moved into coming years...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 87)

Thank you, Madam Chair. So, again, Madam Chair, it's not new money, it's not unanticipated money. It's not unexpected money. There's no new money. There's no new debt. It's the costs of the road and it's the cost of incurring the expenses on the road. What was different was in terms of the timing of when the expenses are showing as having been incurred based on the periodic completion leading up to today, which was always the expected date. And it takes there is a lag, you know, there is a lag in terms of when invoice's received. I've come to discover that it's at least a month by the...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 87)

Yes. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 87)

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, so the funding that was flowing through the Department of ECE to cover well, to hopefully cover the insurance costs, which it was coming close, if not not covering already, is now going to show up in Finance because Finance is responsible for administering the costs of insurance. So you may well see this number well, you will see this number again when we get to the Department of Finance. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 87)

Thank you, Madam Chair. Let me again just turn to $21.4 million, Madam Chair.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 87)

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, again, I'm not sure that I have detail as to the exact month by month or week by week timeline of the project. I can perhaps send this to Mr. Courtoreille who may at least have some breakdown of the variants and would have some understanding of the timing. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 87)

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I anticipate that that will depend project by project. I'm not sure if we could perhaps give some examples or if the Department of Finance might be able to give some examples. So I -- and certainly, we'd have to come in with some discussions with our -- the federal funders where that is the case. So I'll see if, again, if there's an example perhaps deputy minister might be able to provide.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 87)

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, Madam Chair, most school facilities in the Northwest Territories are in fact part of the GNWT's general insurance program, and this had been an exception for YK1 and YCS here in Yellowknife because they own their assets. But that is now changing, and those assets are going to be brought in to the GNWT's portfolio. Thank you, Madam Chair.