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 66)

Thank you, Madam Chair. May I suggest going to the director of finance, please.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 66)

Yes, Madam Chair. I am here to present the 2021-2022 Main Estimates for the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment. Overall, the department's estimates propose an increase of $404,000 or 0.7 percent over the main estimates of 2020-2021. These estimates support the mandate objectives for ITI while continuing to meet the GNWT's fiscal objectives to prioritize responsible and strategic spending.

Highlights of these proposed estimates include:

Initiative funding totalling $2.296 million, which includes:

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$936,000 to continue our support of tourism under Tourism 2025 towards the five-year...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 66)

Thank you, Madam Chair. Just to be clear, earlier, it was 9 percent went to businesses that have sole proprietorships as women, 55 percent go to small businesses that have at least a partial ownership of women, so it's not quite so dire, which is not to say that this is not an area for potential growth. I am quite sure I have seen some other statistics around the participation of women in small and micro-business, and there is a story to be told there. Yes, let me put whatever hat on I need to to say that I am quite confident from the interactions I have had with the executive director at BDIC...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 66)

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 66)

Thank you, Madam Chair. If you are a community, you would go through Community Futures. You might consider the Community Futures Regional Relief and Recovery Fund. If you are an individual, then you certainly may want to start, obviously, with CanNor, which is one of our great federal partners; go to NWT Tourism. There are quite a number of different pots that might apply, depending on the nature of what's being sought. Perhaps I will send that to Deputy Minister Strand to just outline some of those specifics.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 66)

Thank you, Madam Chair. We do have, yes, indeed, some coming in for Mineral Resources Act, and one is, I believe, a permafrost scientist coming in that I would believe is being counted here, yes.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 65)

At present, there is not a set service standard for responding under the northern manufacture policy. Again, the average time right now for processing the application, ensuring that it goes from start to finish completed, is four to six weeks. If having set standards is something that the manufacturers believe would be beneficial, would be useful, then, again, I would hope and expect that that is going to come through in the procurement review and that we can find something that is more functional and more workable, ensuring that, again, if there are other certain standards that are expected...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 65)

I was looking for some information rather quickly. I can give an average, and the average is four to six weeks. I am not clear if that includes an application that is for both of those. I expect that it is. It may be that it is less complicated if it is only under BIP. Mr. Speaker, I should note it doesn't include a timeline if there needs to be further information, if an application is incomplete at the front end. As such, the clock would get stopped on the government end to allow a proponent to add to their application if need be.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 65)

I am going to do my best to maintain the principles from the national inquiry which say, that you must look at all 231 of the calls to justice, that we have to take decolonizing approach, inclusive approach, a self-determining approach, a trauma-informed and cultural safety approach. I simply am not going to pick out one and give an answer right now, Mr. Speaker, of which one will or will not be implemented when or how. I am struggling, Mr. Speaker, with how to be decolonizing in the approach to the action plan, working within a system that is still the system that people were telling us is...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 65)

Implementing all 231 calls to justice will, indeed, cost probably not only millions. It may well cost billions of dollars. That's not going to deter me from putting forward the implementation plan, the action plan, and, again, the draft plan because, again, the point to be is: it's going to be a living document that goes back out into the community, to the people who we're purporting to be serving.

No, it's not going to be a full costed plan. What I do intend to do is to try my best to subscribe to the principles that are in the final report and speaking to those principles, which is what they...