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.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, Mr. Speaker, I was very pleased to be able to table this report. This has been a long time coming in terms of the work happening around affirmative action but, more importantly, around the hiring of Indigenous Northerners to the public service. And, Mr. Speaker, I can certainly say that the commitment of the Department of Finance and Human Resources to seeing achievement in terms of actual diversity and inclusion in public service remains firm.
With respect to what will happen next, Mr. Speaker, this is a policy that is of the executive council, and so there has...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, so I certainly can speak to what is in the What We Heard report that came forward as a result of the engagement that was undertaken regarding the Affirmative Action Policy. And in that, Mr. Speaker, the recommendation there really is, again, that the Affirmative Action Policy is out of date, that it is inadequate, that this is unnecessarily complex. And coming from that, what was also contained in that report is that there be an Indigenous Employment Policy to offer priority hiring to Indigenous persons. That is an area where we all know that we have failed...
. Mr. Speaker, today I am very honoured to be speaking about the first Northwest Territories female athlete to win gold at the Special Olympics World Games.
Applause
Mr. Speaker, this is Yellowknife South resident Chelsey Makaro. And if you have the chance or ability where you are sitting to look up, she has brought her medals with her.
Applause
Mr. Speaker, this past summer, Ms. Makaro traveled to Berlin, Germany, as part of Team Canada to attend the Special Olympics World Summer Games. The games are held every two years and offer athletes with intellectual disabilities an opportunity to...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd go back to looking at, really, the purpose of government renewal short term, gathering information and evidence. We do like to talk about having datadriven decisions, about having evidencebased decisionmaking. You can't do that without the data, and you can't do it without the evidence. We had to get that in place, and it has taken quite some time, Mr. Speaker, because we are doing it over the entire Government of the Northwest Territories in a way that has never been done before.
Mr. Speaker, along the way, we found there was over 200 different programs...
Madam Chair, if I could turn to to Kelly Bluck, please.
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 164)
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I can say we have departments of ITI, infrastructure, lands have all been involved, and the Stantec professional engineers out of Vancouver who do marine assessments are the ones that were involved. So I am hopeful that the information we get to the Member will allay his concerns. Thank you.
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 164)
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, it is still you know, would certainly be my hope that we'd actually be able to get compensation for any repair work as a warranty on the bridge. Obviously that, or some form of insurance on the bridge. I don't have a final on that. The issues arose only just this summer. What and then the so the final completion of any repairs will be in June of 2024. But as I think the Member has previously mentioned or the Minister has previously mentioned, there was certainly work done adequate to ensure the safety of the bridge for continued usage and passage made...
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 164)
Madam Chair, I'm not sure if we have an occupancy list necessarily with respect to planning, but if we do let me see if we can get it. I'm just conscious of the time. We certainly can provide that if we don't have it handy. Thank you.
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 164)
Thank you, Madam Chair. On my left, Madam Chair, is the deputy Minister of Finance, Bill MacKay. And on my right is Perry Heath, the director of infrastructure planning at the Department of Health and Social Services.
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 164)
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I know there was quite a bit of work done at one point with the community in terms of looking at a micro fishery. I don't think there's anything, again, in this plan. There was some training offered, and the training that was offered to community members from Fort Providence around particularly a winter fishery, as well as with respect to the summer fishery, but that would be running out of Hay River. And the last I understand is that there were there was an asset within the community for a small scale fish processing plant for local usage but I believe...
