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‘Fuel the Fire’ moving to YouTube broadcasting for its eighth season

M’CHIGEENG—Neil Debassige is an educator, like his parents Ann and Bud Debassige before him, and he followed that path to a career that took him from teacher to principal with a steadfast passion. Over the past eight years, Mr. Debassige has taken his passion for teaching and melded it with his love of the outdoors to create ‘Fuel the Fire,’ a television program that takes aim at bringing that love of the land to audiences across the globe.

Mr. Debassige is unapologetically passionate about the outdoor lifestyle and the connections to harvesting one’s own food from the land. But the television channel broadcast route has some serious setbacks when it comes to reaching, and teaching, the broader public.

“We started in 2016 and for the first two years we aired on WildTV,” he said. “The last six years have been on the Sportsman Channel.” But those venues are paid subscription channels that essentially preach to the converted. The people who pay to watch the shows are already, for the vast majority at least, already engaged in the outdoor lifestyle. Mr. Debassige and his team want to reach out to a broader audience.

Currently, the eighth season of ‘Fuel the Fire’ is in reruns on the Sportsman Channel, with each season consisting of 13 episodes and running five times a week. This eighth season marks the 100-episode milestone for the show. “My original plan was to get through one season,” he laughs. “Back then I didn’t know anything about producing a television show. It got bigger than us really fast. It was a very high learning curve.”

Luckily, Mr. Debassige was able to tap into some very accomplished local talent in the form of Weengushk Film Institute and, in particular, Weengushk managing director Nano Debassige. “He was integral to helping us with the back end technical pieces,” said Mr. Debassige. “Especially when it comes to what they call ‘post-production’. He was able to get us up to speed.”

The most challenging part of that period was in cutting and trimming the vast amount of footage down into something that would fit coherently into a television program format. It took him some time to come to terms with leaving so much great footage on the cutting room floor. “You have to let the visual do the talking,” he said.

Mr. Debassige has also managed to integrate producing the television program and some outstanding family time—a good thing given how much of his life is consumed with the passion project. Both his daughters have been on the program and even his late father Bud starred in a couple of episodes.

Although the show has enjoyed eight years in its current broadcast milieu, the time has come to take a different course. The television market is decidedly cutthroat and the interests of the cable industry channels do not necessarily coincide with those of the program.

So, after this run, Mr. Debassige intends to move the show onto the show’s YouTube channel. The plan is to reach out to a much wider audience and introduce them to the joys of harvesting your own food from the land.

Mr. Debassige is adamant that he is not a one man show. “I have an incredible number of people, volunteers and sponsors who help make this possible,” he said. Sponsors for the show have been Manitoulin Chrysler, Wikwemikong Tourism, Indigenous Tourism Ontario, Ramakkos Source for Adventure, Island Sunrise Cottages, The Manitoulin Expositor, Wesley Bow Guides, JR Wetlands Outfitters, Manitoulin Phragmites Project, Bestech and Ten Point Archery.

“It has been amazing how small businesses have gone above and beyond to assist us in making this dream come true,” he said.

The active Pro Staff list for ‘Fuel the Fire’ includes: Warren Corbiere, John Ainslie, Jesse Beaudin, Jonathan Zagula, Dianne Glasby, Darci Debassige, Aspen Debassige, Naomi Naokwejigig, Cody Hunter, Kaliegh Hunter, Stacey Rayner, Scott Saunders, Greg Cotnam, Rick Wesley, Larry Wesley, Tammy Wesley, Sean Leduc, Kerry Paquette, Luke Wassegijig, Josh White, Rob Seifried and Al Strader.

The call to action for those with a love of the outdoor and conservation lifestyle is simple. Tune into the Fuel the Fire YouTube channel, subscribe and, very important like and share. “That would be great!” said Mr. Debassige. “Fuel your passion, fuel the fire, and Get Outdoors!”

Article written by

Michael Erskine
Michael Erskine
Michael Erskine BA (Hons) is Associate Editor at The Manitoulin Expositor. He received his honours BA from Laurentian University in 1987. His former lives include underground miner, oil rig roughneck, early childhood educator, elementary school teacher, college professor and community legal worker. Michael has written several college course manuals and has won numerous Ontario Community Newspaper Awards in the rural, business and finance and editorial categories.