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 85)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am more than thrilled to speak about this. It's a topic that, you know, a little over a year ago when I took over this portfolio, critical minerals, although a huge issue in the world, wasn't necessarily being talked about with the same vigor as it is now here in the territories so I am thrilled to say that we had this workshop. I am very pleased that the Member was able to attend. And most definitely there will be a "what we heard" report.

I am happy we got to the place of having a workshop with such a variety of attendees. But that's just that's really...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 85)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, I have enough responsibility but. But, Mr. Speaker, so various forms of this question have been asked I think through the week and, again, I want to ensure colleagues in the room, but particularly the public service, that we do take it very seriously well, two things we take very seriously is first of all the collective agreement and our relationship with the union, which means whatever we're doing in this front certainly needs to involve engagement with the union before we make any policy changes or any proposed changes that would impact on those processes which are...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 85)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Employee Engagement Satisfaction Survey is actually done roughly every two years, and it was postponed when there was collective bargaining back in 2018 and then postponed with COVID19 so it is actually a regularly done survey.

As for what has been done with it in the past, this is the first one that's coming to me so I can't speak to what may or may not have happened to it in the past, but it's the first one that I'm going to see. And Mr. Speaker, Minister Green and myself have met already before the current crisis facing the obstetrics unit. We have...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 85)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I mean, one of the major first steps of course of having that workshop, bringing folks together, and now developing and working through the creation of a form of an action plan with public engagement throughout that process. It's certainly been my practice to ask that we continue to go back out to public, to stakeholders, to interested parties throughout many and most if not most or all of the files I'm certainly responsible for. This will be no different.

When we're doing that, that's the time to be asking what analyses are necessary, what steps can be...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 85)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, Mr. Speaker, this  whether it's a 'what we heard' or a workshop report, I sometimes don't like to get stuck in the semantics. We're going to have a report of the workshop. We're going to get it out to the public. It's going to outline some of the ideas that we heard from NRCan, Canada, the Government of Alberta, CanNor, the Tlicho government, Det’on Cho, the University of Alberta, Lakehead University, so very much looking forward to getting that out. And, yeah, most certainly. Again, whatever type of title we give this report, that's meant to be a guide so we...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 83)

Madam Chair, I do have witnesses available so I'd be happy to have them in the room and ready to go.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 83)

No, Madam Chair. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 83)

Thank you, Madam Chair. I wasn't here in the last Assembly but I'm more than happy to talk to the Member about the fees. There's ongoing work happening right now in terms of developing the Mineral Resources Act and the regulatory system that is required to bring that into force and to have it implemented. So that project is underway. The engagement processes for it are underway. It's a huge project. It's a huge piece of legislation, and the regulatory aspects of it have many branches, including this one.

So I will go back to the Department of ITI and find out what the schedule is for engagement...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 83)

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I'm not aware that there's been any additional costs at this point. Let me just turn quickly to Ms. Salvador and see if there's anything that's late breaking that I'm not aware of, please.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 83)

Mr. Speaker, later this afternoon, I will table the Report of the Procurement Review Panel, which provides a review of the GNWT's procurement policies and practices, as well as recommendations on how these can be improved.

Government procurement, especially in the Northwest Territories, is far-reaching, and the steps that we take to respond to the panel's recommendations will support the GNWT's mandate commitments.

To adopt a benefit retention approach to economic development; increase employment in small communities; increase economic diversification by supporting growth in non-extractive...