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 60)

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document: 2023/2024 Report on the Departmental Indigenous Employment Plans Results. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 60)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, let me start, if I might, with the health information systems charting tool. There's a couple of items all listed here so just so I'm talking about the right item. But this is the electronic health record project. This is a multi-year project. It is underway; I can say that much. But there was -- let me just see if I can -- sorry, Mr. Chair. There's been some changes to the project timeline, and specifically, here we do have -- sorry, Mr. Chair. I just want to make sure I'm on the right project.

Let me see if the deputy minister has it, the right one in front of...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 60)

Mr. Speaker, I stand before you today to talk about how the Government of the Northwest Territories is making improvements when it comes to our technology systems and online services. Our main goal is simple: We want to make government services easier to access and safer to use. We want people to be able to securely access services like applying for a permit, or accessing a marriage, birth or death certificate, no matter where they live in the Northwest Territories.

Residents can now access a wide array of services digitally, from applying for vital statistics documents or renewing driver's...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 60)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Sorry, Mr. Chair, I realize my answer wasn't very clear. So originally, this was a three -- projected to be a three-year project. It is now projected to be a four-year project first, on the firsthand. And secondly, there was an additional amount that was added to the project, not in this supp. But with the addition of the extra year on the project, the original timing of some of when things were being spent has changed. And so originally, the total projected -- the total projected spending now for 2024-2025 is just shy of $200,000 which leaves a balance available of --...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 60)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, there certainly is some ability to do that. You can have a contractor or a subcontractor declared to be -- I'm not -- the word's escaping me, Mr. Chair. But to have them noted so that future procurement does look at them as being -- yeah, and would have that noted on file as being a known contractor with whom there have been problems. That's a fairly significant consideration, fairly significant marking to have (audio) so it would have to be fairly certain. I'd certainly be happy to take it away and see whether there is something more that can be done. I hear...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 60)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, on my left I have the deputy minister of finance Bill MacKay. And on my right, Mandi Bolstad is the deputy secretary to the financial management board.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 60)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I am here to present the Tabled Document 340-20(1), Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures) No. 1, 2025-2026. This document proposes a total increase of $178.555 million in capital expenditures, comprised of the following items:

$92.94 million for infrastructure expenditures funding for projects that were not completed in 2024-2025. This amount is fully offset by unspent appropriations in 2024-2025;

$41.6 million for contributions to Housing NWT for infrastructure investment in public housing;

$20.9 million for increased costs associated with the...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 59)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, so a quick response, first, is that this is one-time funding that's going to two organizations. 1.5 -- just over $1.5 million to the Yellowknife Women's Shelter for the Spruce Bough transitional housing services they provide, and $300,000 to the Salvation Army shelter operations. This was money that was otherwise going to be lapsing because of just delays in terms of getting some of the work around transitional housing -- the transitional housing project that had been previously proposed for a site in Yellowknife that apparently there's some zoning challenges in that...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 59)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I can't speak to what may or may not have been going on back in 2016. But, Mr. Chair, this is an appropriation that is meant to move -- there was -- sorry, there was some funding that sunset previously in health and social services, and then we are now looking to fund this out of ECE and to step in where the funding was previously sunset to now go from what was a federally funded program in health to a GNWT funded program through ECE. Thank you.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 59)

Yes, please, Mr. Chair.