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KUGLUKTUK/COPPERMINE - A five-year-old girl in Kugluktuk has been waiting almost two years for her new glasses, in the meantime wearing an old prescription far too strong for her.

Eva Pigalak had corrective surgery for a lazy eye and needed a new pair with a different prescription from the very thick lenses she was wearing.

Five-year-old Eva Pigalak is wearing the same pair of glasses she has had for almost two years. - photo courtesy of Donna Elgok

It's been almost two years now since the new glasses were ordered and they have yet to arrive.

"One side of her lens is really scratched up and we've been waiting for a new pair," said her mother Jean Pigalak.

Eva is eligible to get new glasses every year under the non-insured health benefits that are part of the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement. Children age 18 and under qualify for new prescription glasses once per year.

Jean has called the health centre in Kugluktuk more than once a month to see if her daughter's glasses have arrived yet, but is disappointed every time.

The long wait for new glasses is unusual when compared to Eva's previous set. The old glasses Eva still wears took only three months to arrive after an eye exam in Yellowknife. They are the only set she's ever had.

Eva's father Cecil Apatahak wears glasses, too, and he is covered for a new pair once every two years as an adult under the same benefits. He hasn't had such trouble getting his glasses, according to his partner Jean.

Nunavut Tungaavik's director of social and cultural development Natan Oben said there is often criticism of the service of the non-insured health benefits for beneficiaries, which covers Eva's glasses. But he said the program was "better than nothing.”

"On the surface, the program is excellent," Oben stated.

The non-insured health benefits are administered by Health Canada to beneficiaries of Inuit land claims and members of recognized First Nations. Besides eyeglasses they provide extended coverage for drugs and other medical supplies, dental care, medical travel and crisis counselling.

The program is designed to fill the gap in health coverage between things covered by Health Canada and things covered by provincial and territorial governments.