Caroline Wawzonek

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 124)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think where we're going with this, Mr. Chair, is with respect to communities within Tu NedheWiilideh, and there are no parks capital projects for 20232024 planned in the community of Lutselk'e or Fort Resolution if that is ultimately where this is going. And if not, I apologize. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 124)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, let me I'll certainly take that commitment away and just confirm that I am able to, to the extent to which we can break it down and that there's no running up against any procurement concerns. But subject to that, I will provide that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 124)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, it's probably a response that I'll want to have at some length outside of the House but, yes, the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment has a set amount that it goes towards small capital particularly so for us it would be parks. If that is last, and I don't or carried over, which you know, sometimes there are projects that get carried over but, if anything, it just winds up going to other ITI projects that are then themselves underfunded. I don't know that we tend to carry over a whole lot within the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 124)

Mr. Chair, I'd suggest I'll direct it to the director of finance, please.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 124)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, there's been no ask to me with respect to any visitors centre. What we do have, as I've said in the last response, was that the North Arm Park, there's a significant amount of capital proposed to build a kitchen shelter and campground, so would very much like to pass this capital project first to get that project underway and complete this campground which has been built under the Tlicho infrastructure cooperation agreement. So it has gone through that very unique process of working with the Tlicho government with that agreement for the procurement of the...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 124)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So there yes, you can actually go out and buy these kind of systems, but it's certainly not a small procurement that takes place. Right at this point it is internal, and so that's where you recall that there were transfers as between the Department of Finance, which is where ISSS, Information and Shared System Services resides, over to ITI so that internal work by GNWT public servants can take place. It will ultimately go out for contracting so that it can go to someone to an entity that is specialized in the delivery of the construction of a program like this. And, yes...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 124)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I believe we're talking about Nataiinlaii park, but I'm again probably not quite doing justice to the name. And, Mr. Chair, with respect to that project, this it's a full-service campground with 21 complete camp sites, group camping, kitchen, shelters, staff house buildings etcetera. And obviously fuel costs are fairly significant, so looking to install a solar panel system which should both obviously be a greener source of power but also be one that would be a lot less noisy and then hopefully significantly less costly. Right now we're looking around $4,000 a month to...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 124)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, on my left, I have the deputy minister Pamela Strand. On my right, Nina Salvador is director of finance.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 124)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I would also assume that that scoping has been done, but I don't know. So let me take that away, and I will make a commitment to get back to the Member with a public response on that.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 124)

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I would like to table the following document: 20212022 Status of Women Council of the Northwest Territories Annual Report. Thank you, Madam Speaker.