Over the past decades, observations of buried glacier ice exposed in coastal bluffs and headwalls of retrogressive thaw slumps of the Arctic indicate that considerable amounts of Pleistocene glacier ice survived the deglaciation and are still preserved in permafrost. In exposures, relict glacier ice and intrasedimental ice often coexist and look alike but their genesis is strikingly different. Identifying the origin of ground ice is required to model its spatial distribution and abundance, which is necessary to model the response of circumpolar permafrost regions to climate change. This paper aims to present a detailed description and report physical and geochemical properties of glacier ice buried in the permafrost of Bylot Island (Nunavut) as well as identify geomorphic processes that led to the burial and preservation of the ice. The massive ice exposure and core samples were described according to the cryostratigraphic approach, combining the analysis of permafrost cryofacies and cryostructures, ice crystallography, stable O-H isotopes and cation contents. The buried glacier ice consisted of clear to whitish englacial ice having large crystals (cm) and small gas inclusions (mm) at crystal intersections, similar to observations of englacial ice facies commonly found on contemporary glaciers and ice sheets. However, the isotopic composition of the buried ice differed markedly from contemporary glacier ice and indicated the late Pleistocene age of the ice. This ice predates the aggradation of the permafrost and can be used as an archive to infer paleo-environmental conditions at the study site. As most of the arctic landscapes are still strongly determined by its glacial legacy, the melting of these large ice bodies could lead to extensive slope failures and settlement of the ground surface, with significant impact on permafrost geosystem landscape dynamics, terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, and infrastructure.