Washing away

Noella Cockney walks along a now-frozen beach to where her house used to be in Tuktoyaktuk, N.W.T., an Inuvialuit hamlet on the shores of the Beaufort Sea.

My front entrance was probably right about here. And this little part in front was actually eroding, said Cockney, pointing to where several metres of coastline have disappeared.

Her three-bedroom home, which belonged to her grandfather, was moved seven kilometres inland in 2020 before storm waves swallowed up the shore.

I didnt sleep a lot of the nights in the summertime, she said. She recalls timing the waves during storms so she could leave her house without getting wet.

If I fell asleep and then woke up maybe my porch would be gone. I had no idea, she said.

It was scary.

Powerful storm waves and thawing permafrost causing erosion are collapsing Tuks coastline by about one metre each year.

The hamlet of about 1,000 people, mostly Inuvialuit, are in a race against time to preserve their way of life and their community before it is washed away.

Tuktoyaktuk is at risk of becoming the first community in Canada to be completely relocated because of erosion and rising sea levels.

If nothing is done, you will see significant places in the community disappear, said Dustin Whalen, a physical scientist for Natural Resources Canada who has studied coastal erosion and permafrost in Tuktoyaktuk for the past 18 years.

In about 50 years time, the health care centre, the college and even half of the cemetery will be gone, said Whalen, unless theres physical intervention.

Many homes would also disappear, said Whalen. Tuktoyaktuk would look more like a series of islands, during periods of flooding from big storms.

Tuktoyaktuk Mayor Erwin Elias worries about larger and more frequent storm surges.

I feel that the community of Tuk is in a state of emergency, he said, while driving to the most threatened area of town called The Point. During storm surges, waves wash over the road hes driving on.

The Point is a natural wave break from the Arctic Ocean, separating it from the harbour. Sections are currently being reinforced with concrete slabs and boulders.

Its super important that, you know, we protect this area, he said.

A second layer of armour is Tuk Island.

The 1.5-kilometre-long island sits just offshore of Tuk. It, too, protects the harbour from storms, measuring 36 metres wide at its narrowest point.

The harbour has traditionally been used for fishing. It has also been used in the past by oil companies as a base for exploration.

Waves are peeling away chunks of thawing permafrost from Tuk Island, made up of sand, clay and ice layers over top of a massive block of ice.

Were being told today that in 18 years, in our lifetime, that will all be gone, said Elias.

The island is disappearing by about two metres a year. Once its gone, the community is at greater risk for flooding from storm surges and erosion.

Tuk is going to be in grave danger for sure, he said.

Several homes along The Point have been relocated inland to a subdivision called Reindeer Point. People who live there drive into town. Theres no public transportation.

Still, not everyone is willing to leave the coast.

Ryan Yakeleya lives next to where Noella Cockney lived, and he has a few metres left of land before the erosion threatens his home. To his right are empty lots where homes and the community curling club used to be all gone now.

Yakeyela was offered a chance to relocate by the hamlet but he declined, despite the risks.

I lived in Tuk all my life and always looked at the ocean, such a beautiful thing, he said, standing on the crumbling shoreline in front of his home.

Hes not sure how much time is left. He knows moving is inevitable.

That has others in the community being proactive, such as James Keevik.

Hes a community climate change monitor in Tuktoyaktuk.

Its kind of important to us as were learning our land is starting to melt away underneath our feet, said Keevik, while trekking to the top of a pingo a dome-shaped mound consisting of layers of soil over a large core of ice.

Today, hes measuring snow and permafrost depth. The pingo is covered in willows with very little snow, another impact from climate change.

The difference I hope that we make is that we know whats happening underneath us. Were not wondering whats going to happen trying to watch the areas that are sensitive around the community, said Keevik.

I worry about the future for Tuktoyaktuk.

Youth with Tuk TV are also being proactive.

Theyre making a documentary series called Happening To Us, showing the changes theyre seeing in their community.

That includes how climate change is impacting the Inuvialuit way of life, such as harvesting most of their food from the land and sea.

Kiara Cockney said she is going to stay in Tuktoyaktuk until she no longer can.

Shes worried about the next generation and how they will grow up, knowing theyre not going to grow up the way her generation did.

Theres going to be a lot less land from when we were growing up, a lot less space for them, she said while working at a computer on the second documentary of Happening To Us.

I lived here my whole life and I dont think I am ready to change it.

Nathan Kuptana, a self-described leader, took part in the first documentary.

I want to take care of our community. Like my heart belongs here.

The Hamlet of Tuktoyaktuk has tried to protect the shoreline by placing concrete slabs on the slope where erosion is happening. Its what Elias calls more of a Band-Aid fix.

But he says what Tuk really needs is $53 million from the federal government for its latest mitigation project to protect its coastline and Tuk Island.

The project would armour the shoreline with stones weighing between one and three tonnes along the communitys sea-facing shoreline, designed to withstand severe storms and storm surges.

The same would be done on Tuk Island.

In between graves and crosses in the cemetery, the permafrost underfoot has heaved and slumped. Elias knows the relations of every person whos buried there.

The mitigation could also help preserve the cemetery.

The biggest thing is to armour this area so at least we dont see coffins floating in the ocean, said Elias, looking out to the frozen shoreline.

Thats one of the biggest fears that we never want to see.

The hamlet is still waiting to hear back from Ottawa on whether or not the money will be approved.

If its denied, the fate of Tuktoyaktuk could come faster.

Theres nothing we can do. As a hamlet, municipality, we dont have the means of protecting the shoreline the way we need to.

Back at Noella Cockneys home at Reindeer Point, she looks out her living room window at a frozen bay, missing her ocean view.

She says she has come to terms with being forced to move her home inland.

It would have been really hard to see it drop into the ocean, honestly. I mean, it would have been so awful, she said.

She got through that part of her life in Tuktoyaktuk, knowing it could be what everyone in her community will experience.

Everybody, eventually, probably will move inland.

Thats why her community is critically planning for what could happen next.

To think that [Tuks] actually going to just wash away. Its pretty hard to imagine.