Woman in Ulukhaktok, N.W.T., collects thousands of pieces of sea glass on Arctic beach

HelenaEkootak's collection of bits and bobs gathered on the shores of Queens Bay in Ulukhaktok, N.W.T.,could fill a museum well, a small one.

Still, it's an impressive amount to have amassed over a relatively short time. Her rough guess? More than 2,000 pieces collected over four years, mostly sea glass and pottery shards.

Ekootak started combing the beach in 2020 after a personal tragedy. She'd listen to the water, and scourthe shore for tiny treasures.

"I was trying to come off some very heavy medication that I was put on after my mother, surprisingly, passed away in my arms," she said.

"I used the land to help me get off this medication and heal."

Most of her finds are one-off fragments, but she's also collected a dozen or so pieces of what looks like a single plate.

"I actually do a little dance and a little happy sigh once I find a piece of this maybe a plate, maybe a bowl. I'm not sure what it could be," she said.

Ekootak said she expects most of her findings come from a previous settlement at Kings Bay, which is just a 15-minute walk from her home.

The Trailbreaker8:21A beachcomber in Ulukhaktok.

Helena Ekootakhas a hobby of collecting sea glassin Ulukhaktok. She spoke to Hilary Bird.

Greg Crawford, an oceanographer at Ontario Tech University, agrees that's the most likely source.

"Glass and ceramic are generally a bit denser than seawater, so they tend to sink," he said.

So the bottles, plates, and other detritus from the settlement likely sank into the shore sediment, he added.

"There's a better chance that this broken material was carried along with near-shore sediments but that depends on the sediment transport in that area," he said.

While the ocean hasn't yet frozen, several centimetres of snow are bringing Ekootak'sbeachcombing season to a close for this year.

After years of stockpiling, now she's considering taking her collection in a new direction bymaking ornaments, jewelry or collages "crafty stuff like that," she said.