Member Yellowknife South

Deputy Premier
Minister of Finance
Minister Responsible for the Northwest Territories Power Corporation
Minister Responsible for Strategic Infrastructure, Energy and Supply Chains

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,  Minister 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

Caroline Wawzonek
Yellowknife South
Member's Office

Yellowknife NT X1A 2L9
Canada

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

Statements in Debates

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 140)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The prospector training course is indeed a success, and it's one that has had a lot of increasing uptake. Perhaps I'll just turn it to the deputy minister who might have some numbers to provide. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 140)

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I don't think there's an active recruitment for staffing right now, but I can say that there's quite a bit of work happening with the Tu Cho Fishers Cooperative as well as with FFMC to ensure that those players and parties are all involved, that there's no overlapping work going on but that, in fact, everyone's working together. The goal, again, is to have this plant open and operational for the fishing season, including with having a manager and including having the staffing available. I, in fact, only spoke to FTI about this yesterday and had a very...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 140)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I'd like to send this to the deputy minister to give a bit more of a sense about where it's been and where it's going. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 140)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I am well aware that there are other fish plants and thrilled that there are other fish plants. We are not even remotely close to meeting our quota of fishing of freshwater fish here in the Northwest Territories. There's ample opportunity. If anything, I think our challenge is more on the side of having more fishers. And we certainly will make that point to raise this issue. I think the deputy minister actually may have an opportunity as early as tomorrow. If this comes up, she's at FFMC's meeting tomorrow just to make that they are aware of the complexity of...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 140)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Let me see if the deputy minister has a more up to date report.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 140)

 Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I am happy to speak about the fish plant. There is quite a lot of activity underway and senior members from the department were, in fact, in Hay River just recently, and we are still anticipating a summer or early spring opening to the fish plant. It'll be commissioned in the spring with an opening to follow I believe in line with the summer fishing season. Thank you. 

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 140)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, that is something that is a ITI lead but it is worked on, as I mentioned earlier, a shared area with Department of ENR as well. And right now it's under ITI as there's a discussion paper out for comment and review, and it would certainly be helpful if more people would look at it and provide their comments and feedback to it. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 140)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, so, firstly, just quickly with respect to agrifood, I am conscious of the Member's time but I'm actually at their association AGM next Friday and so certainly can follow up immediately and make note of the fact that this has been brought to our attention with respect to reporting to see exactly what the issue is.

And with respect then to the position for the fisheries, it is, indeed, a sunset but that is in part I think there was an expectation that the position was going to seconded to the Tu Cho for two years and in fact now the position is just changing in...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 140)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, let me see if perhaps the deputy minister might have that the number in terms of the positions oh well, we do have. Six positions right now, Mr. Chair, in the PRO office. As for whether they are filled, again let me see if the deputy has that information. If not, we'll get back to the Member. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 140)

Thank you, Madam Speaker. So the Department of ITI maintains the BIP registry, which fortunately I'm able to speak to a little bit. And as I've mentioned I think earlier this session, we are conducting certainly the procurement review in looking at the registry for the BIP, wanting to ensure that it's reflective of what an appropriate definition for northern businesses is. The final version of what that definition might in fact be is not now final and so in that regard, the Schedule 3 to the BIP remains as it is from something that long predates, I think arguably most, if not all of us in this...