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.
BDIC's statistics do show that approximately nine percent of total loans go to businesses where women are the sole proprietor. Approximately, 55 percent of total loans go to those where there's a woman who is, at least, a part-owner of the business.
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 66)
Thank you, Madam Chair. It is a conversation worth having, so I will go and have the conversation. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 66)
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, the drop of $2 million that you can see between the revised 2020 estimates and the mains for 2021-2022 relate really to the fact that there was increased funding coming through CanNor to support the tourism industry in COVID. If you kind of look at the main estimates to main estimates, there actually is not very much variance there. Sorry, Madam Chair. I am going to have to get the second half of her question. It's gone. I apologize.
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 66)
Madam Chair, the department worked very much in conjunction, in collaboration, with the Office of the Chief Public Health Officer last spring and through the season to ensure that the parks reopened safely. In some ways, that foundation is already there and the relationships are already there, and the relationships are already built. I am quite confident that everything that can be done to reopen as safely and as fulsomely as possible is and will be done. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 66)
Thank you, Madam Chair. It's a sunset, so it wasn't a reduction so much as this was the end point of the funding that was put in place when the road opened in order to help ramp up and be ready for tourism. Certainly, Madam Chair, what the intention is now is to monitor the reopening and to determine whether or not a position is still required and, if so, to, then, go back and seek that funding to have it return. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 66)
Madam Chair, let me see if there is an update. I know that was somewhat dependent on work being done with mineral resources regulations, but let me see if I have an update through Deputy Minister Strand, please.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in advance of International Women's Day. In 1975, the United Nations designated March 8th as an opportunity for unity, celebration, reflection, advocacy, and action about the place and role of women across the social, economic, cultural, and political fabric of the world. While it is a day for celebration, on reflection, we must raise awareness of the work that is left to be done towards greater gender equality. The theme of this year's International Women's Day is Choose to Challenge.
Mr. Speaker, I decided to search the definition of "challenge." What I found is that...
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 66)
Sorry, Madam Chair. This portion, the business support portion? Madam Chair, that is probably a conversation to be had not in this forum with me by myself sitting here without officials. Yes, if it is a perennial problem for small businesses and certainly the fact that they didn't have their books done wasn't because of COVID, necessarily, it was probably a challenge that just built up over time, and then they wound up not being able to access funding. I think, by looking at those who have subscribed and hopefully getting some feedback as to why they wound up in that situation, we'll be better...
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 66)
Thank you, Madam Chair. Right now, obviously, the tourism infrastructure fund still sits at $200,000. It certainly has been oversubscribed, I think, in this last year, and efforts have been undertaken to, as I said earlier, move travel money and reallocating that to the areas that are in need, such as this one and such as some of the tourism products that have rolled out, whether GRIT or otherwise. The short answer is yes, but the longer answer is that it's coming in one project at a time right now. Right now, we are still closing out the end of this fiscal year and trying to utilize all of...
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 66)
Madam Chair, I am embarrassed to admit that I forgot what the question was because I love to talk about this. I had the pleasure of receiving a detailed, lengthy presentation, including all sorts of graphics, 3D things jumping out, all from Northwest Territories Tourism, who are our organization, marketing organization, here in the Northwest Territories. They have always traditionally done the bulk of the programming for tourism, and it is quite fantastic. I believe there is an outstanding offer for a similar briefing to committee to have all the same experiences of seeing 3D animals pop out...
