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 , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 42)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I believe we certainly could make -- add a page to the report that comes out detailing the initiatives and different programs that are being spent in here. I anticipate that should be not a problem. Thank you.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 42)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I'm sorry. I pulled up looking at payroll tax revenues that have -- we were getting in over the course of the year. With respect to human resources and active positions, the GNWT -- or sorry, the Department of Finance, we don't have change in the Tlicho region. We did break out Tlicho region this, and there's not changes within the Department of Finance for the Tlicho region. We're sitting at two full-time and we'll -- in the last year and continuing up to full-time next year. So there may be a page that I'm not seeing, and I'm happy to take that up and just go...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 42)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I, some years ago, had a briefing note on Cameron Hills and how it wound up with us. I don't have that here now. The Department of Finance has the role of holding all of the costs, all of the budget for environmental liabilities as a total. Cameron Hills is one that went into a CCAA proceeding, and we then went out with the receiver to try to have it sold and if I recall, there may have been some activity in that space, some not, and I believe, again, that it was the receiver that did some of the estimates here in conjunction with ECC. But, really, beyond that level of...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 42)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there's quite a number of things that -- different programs and services available. There's, of course, the Indigenous Recruitment and Retention Framework which is an overarching way of looking at how the GNWT engages with potential employees, communities. There's also a number of programs, not the least of which is Indigenous Career Gateway Program. This is an opportunity that was not fully subscribed just a few years ago when I had started here and is now very fully subscribed which is a certainly positive circumstance. But it's entry level positions...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 42)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And, yes, absolutely. Part -- a big part of the GRI work, and particularly with respect to the movement to have departments involved in doing and completing their first, second, and third rounds of evaluations under the GRI framework, is to create a culture whereby we are in a continuous evaluation, we are able to undertake and know that we are undertaking reviews of our programs. That was not necessarily a very structured, organized, or enforced process prior to GRI. So by doing so, we are better placed going forward on programs, particularly -- well, I was going to say...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 42)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, there is a standard that we do try to meet. There are thousands of claims that are -- and requests for support that are processed every year. I do certainly get some BFs on this item that come through the office, particularly when there's been a challenge where someone has an appointment and they haven't received their information about where they might be going, a flight or hotel, so we do then try to very quickly make those connections. But overall, Mr. Chair, again, it's -- there's thousands that do get processed and that where folks are able to access their...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 42)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have on my left Bill MacKay, the deputy minister of finance. And on my right, Tram Do, the director of shared corporate service.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 42)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. No, not as an expressed committee per se.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 42)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So it would be an estimate of what a clean-up might be. There is a statement within the financial administration manual here and under public accounting standards. I'll direct that to the director and see if she happens to have that one handy. Thank you.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 42)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that actually hits on what really is the biggest barrier right now in terms of being able to move this forward and with some timelines. Data is a challenge in this space.

I can say, Mr. Speaker, that there is support now flowing to non-government partners with respect to having a client management software system. So it's an actual system that can be used to better track and understand the challenge that is faced and how it's moving forward. So, again, there is significant work happening in this space, and it's collaborative work that's happening in this...