Hon. Caroline Cochrane Minister of Education, Culture and Employment Minister Responsible for the Status of Women   Member's Office: P.O. Box 1320; Yellowknife, NT; X1A 2L9 Caroline_Cochrane@gov.nt.ca

Caroline Cochrane was first elected to the 18th Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories in November 2015 representing the constituency of Range Lake. At that time, she was also elected as a Member of Cabinet.

She has served as Minister of Public Works and Services, Minister Responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation, Minister Responsible for Addressing Homelessness, Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Minister Responsible for the Workers Safety and Compensation Commission, and Minister Responsible for the Status of Women.

On April 4, 2018 she was appointed as the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, and retained the portfolio as Minister Responsible for the Status of Women.

She is especially proud of her work, through successful engagement with residents, to restructure the philosophy, policies, and programs of the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation into programming based on the overall goal to assist residents to obtain, retain, and maintain their homes. As well, Minister Cochrane led the work to begin the implementation of the first 9-1-1 service in the NWT and continues to lead the Campaign Schools for Women to promote and support women being elected to all levels of government.

Minister Cochrane is excited to take on her new portfolio. She is of Metis descent, holds a degree in Social Work, and has twenty years’ experience in administration and direct service provision within accredited agencies that support high risk families. She has developed and facilitated workshops on topics related to parenting, child development, a variety of ‘train the trainer’ and facilitation/service provision. She has also trained community health workers to conduct developmental assessments for children.

Minister Cochrane looks forward to continuing the work of the department’s three main strategies; the Right from the Start strategy for Early Childhood Development, the junior kindergarten to grade 12 Education Renewal strategy, and the post-secondary Skills 4 Success strategy, as well as the initiatives focused on promoting and revitalizing French and Indigenous languages, Culture and Heritage, and supporting, encouraging and providing opportunities for the most vulnerable residents.

Minister Cochrane envisions a northern education system within a holistic framework. She believes in the need for strategic early intervention and making schools the hub of small communities for children and families. She envisions a system where children, teens and young adults are provided quality academic education, as well as health, social, emotional, and career development support to assist in their successful transition into employment and adulthood. Minister Cochrane looks forward to ensuring our educational supports are based on best practices, and sees our northern language and culture as our true gem with the potential for the Northwest Territories to be on the breaking edge of new best practice educational standards.