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 31)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I don't know if I have that kind of detail here. I mean, this was work that was planned for Highway No. 3. There are regular patrols done of all the highways and then planned works get done along a fairly complicated schedule that -- or complicated chart that I certainly have looked at and seen semi-regularly that shows every single highway in the North, all of the different areas of need, and ranks all of them. So this one would have come through that process, and then it was a matter of determining which types of funding are available from the federal...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 31)

Mr. Speaker, thank you for the question. With respect to the last budget, there is more items in that budget than just the $10 million, but it's not necessarily because of a forced growth or new initiatives. Things do come up through the course of a year. There can be a number of different reasons why things would come up or that things might be approved and that they might even out. So every department is responsible for bringing forward their budget, for managing their budget, and bringing that to the financial management board. The financial management board then uses the information that's...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 31)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I believe all of this funding actually came from WAGE Canada, so it came from one source within the department -- within the federal system but is being split between different departments to undertake different steams. There was a number of different pillars under which the federal money was allotted. And so we were able to utilize those different streams to achieve different goals within departments but it's ultimately achieving, you know, a whole-of-government approach towards ending gender-based violence, which is how we approached the problem, so that's...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 31)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I don't have detail here as to exactly what challenges there may have been, I mean aside from having been in this government and seeing the community of Hay River go through a number of various challenges and emergencies over the last couple of years, but I can say that we are expecting the design to be completed here 2025-2026, so that much is on schedule, and construction would be starting as soon as possible thereafter. And yes, Mr. Chair, the construction -- well yes, and in fact I can say with a little more certainty, Mr. Chair, that it was the 2021 flood...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 31)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there's still a lot more work to do if we're going to hit that $150 million mark, and much of that will depend on what happens in this House when we are discussing budgets, capital and main estimates, and determining what we put in them and what we might need to take out of them. Thank you.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 31)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, actually, quite fortunately I'm pleased to have that question. I'm actually really glad to have that question. We certainly don't want members of the public to be out and concerned. So I can say that right initially -- again, as I said earlier, it was within two days there was engineers on site doing a full site assessment and they did testing on site. They also then pulled the piece that was damaged, did further testing on that piece. But what they've done since is they've actually went back and looked at all 23 other remaining connecters, and they've done...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 31)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. That is my understanding of it. Thank you.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 31)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I was just looking for an exact date in any of my materials, but I can say that if it's here at the beginning of November and, as I said, we're looking to mobilize the construction at the same time, folks should be able to be using it this calendar year. Thank you.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 31)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the date when we are expecting the part to -- the cables themselves to arrive would be the first week of November, in the region. It will take a total of three months to get all 24 cables replaced. Thank you.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 31)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The wellness centre is 100 percent federally funded. Thank you.