The Fire Within

One fateful night changed the course of Ann Young-Boissoneau’s life and the lives of her family. Young-Boissoneau’s son Jay Hall, a Nipissing First Nation youth died on April 17, 2010 as result of an accidental drug overdose.

Hall, 17, had been grieving the loss of his best friend who died from a serious head trauma at Sick Kids in October, 2007 after a cycling accident which she says lead to her son experimenting with Methatdone.

"Jay was the one who turned him over. Jay was the one who wiped the blood from his mouth, and Jay was the one who ran for help while he had his other friends hold him up," explains Young-Boissoneau.

Methadone is a replacement for Heroin and doctors use it in a clinical setting to help patients who are kicking their dependency to opiates to reduce the unpleasant withdrawal symptoms.

“As far as the serious effect of this drug -- actually I had no idea that kids were even engaging with that type of drug,” she explains.

“Yes it was one horrible night, changed my life completely. There’s no words to describe the pain that you feel and every morning that you wake up you know it’s a new adjustment try to get through the new day.”

“But my message is … I’m eager to put this word out there and to prevent this because I know that this is what Jay would want.”

'The Fire Within' is a collaborative documentary film developed by the OPP, Yura Monestime - Canadore College professor Broadcasting and his students, as well as Nipissing First Nation - Nbisiing Secondary School. The 23 minute production delivers Young-Boissoneau’s message by turning the spotlight on what happens to a family, friends and a community who are left to deal with the ugly side of drugs and alcohol.

She says the documentary is her way of telling parents to stay on top of what is going on with their children and to talk open and honestly about everything. She says it is her way of preventing another mother from suffering and feeling the anguish of loss.

“I really want other parents to be aware and to love and treasure what they have because life is so short and we don’t know.”

“We have to prevent this … this could have been so prevented.”



Film Producers say the idea originated with Sergeant George Couchie, Native Awareness Training coordinator, OPP Aboriginal Policing Bureau, in support of the Union of Ontario Indians ‘War on Drugs’ initiative.




Monique Sawyer, principal of Nbisiing Secondary School, says the loss of Hall had a significant impact on everyone and it is ongoing so it is important to support the students through the process.

"At our school because we are such a small school anything along these lines has a huge impact on the other students especially since they knew the boy involved."

“The whole demeanor of the school, the whole … you feel the negative vibe in the school.”

“We bring in councilors, we have support, but even for those students who didn’t know that student this boy they often can relate to it they often have a friend in that situation. And then on the other hand they often say wow that could have been me I’m glad I said no.”



Couchie says they hope to have the film distributed throughout First Nations communities across Ontario and Canada.

The first community screening of ‘The Fire Within’ will take place at Nipissing First Nation in May 2011.