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INUVIK - A new teacher at Samuel Hearne was confused when she found out she doesn't qualify for an NWT health card.

Cindy Williams is a junior high teacher at the high school. She arrived in town in July and started her job at the school in August.

Samuel Hearne teachers Hughes Latour and Cindy Williams are concerned about health care coverage in the NWT. Latour got his health card last year. Williams is here for a year and wants a health card as well. - Dez Loreen/NNSL photo

She has been hired as a teacher for a term of one year.

Because of that classification, Beaufort Delta Health and Social Services said she can't be issued a NWT health care card as she is a temporary resident of the territory and is still covered by the health plan of her home province of British Columbia.

Williams said she was given the run-around by the registrar-general who heads up the Department of Health in Inuvik. He said she waited three months and one day before applying for her NWT health care card, which is the norm for new residents.

"I was told that I wasn't eligible because of my residency," said Williams.

Williams said she is a settled-in resident of Inuvik now, with a place rented in her own name, utilities in her own name and she even registered to vote.

"Registering to vote was easier than I thought," she said.

Williams said she considers Inuvik her home where she will spend the next year.

Last week, Williams was still in conversations with the department, trying to find a solution to her problem.

Greg Cummings, deputy minister of the department, said nobody is denying her health care as provinces and territories provide care to each others' residents under reciprocal agreements.

"We have reciprocal agreements with other provinces for term workers," said Cummings.

Cummings said if someone leaves their home province for a term period, they are still covered under that health care program.

"Anyone can arrange to be covered under their own health care provider," he said.

Cummings also said the cases depend on the individual and what province they are from.

Cummings said anyone with a complaint should get in contact with him to discuss their concerns about the system in place.

"I'd like to explain to them the relationship between the territory and the province," he said.

He added that no matter where you come from, nobody is denied emergency health care in the North.

Hughes Latour, a French teacher, was given his NWT health card last year.

Cummings said Latour was given a card because he was not a term worker and had a longer contract.

"If you're here to live and work for a while, it's not a problem to get a health card," said Cummings.