Nicole Boyer, whose life included important years in St. Davids, her daughters Zoe and Pyper and the family labrador, Jasper, are being remembered following a fatal collision on Highway 11 in northern Ontario on Dec. 21 that took their lives.
Ontario Provincial Police said officers responded around 12:30 a.m. to a two-vehicle collision involving a tractor-trailer and a pickup truck on Highway 11 in Opasatika Township, roughly 1,000 kilometres north of Niagara-on-the-Lake by road.
Four people were in the pickup truck. Three passengers — Nicole, 41, Zoe, 15, and Pyper, 12 — were pronounced dead at the scene, while the driver, her husband, Jason Boyer, 41, was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. No injuries were reported for the driver of the tractor-trailer.
The cause of the collision is still being investigated.
In a Jan. 6 email, when asked about weather conditions being a possible factor, acting OPP Sgt. Martin Thibault told The Lake Report there have been no updates beyond the original media release and the investigation remains ongoing. The Kapuskasing detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police is investigating.
Police are also working with the Office of the Chief Coroner for Ontario and specialized OPP traffic and collision investigators.
Nicole met Jason while attending St. Davids Public School in Grade 8, and years later, he proposed in the same schoolyard where their friendship began.
The couple was married for 18 years and later moved to northern Ontario to be closer to nature and raise their children around animals and outdoor life.
In the online obituary, Nicole is remembered for her “joie de vivre,” her infectious laughter and her deep love of nature.
“She didn’t just live life, she was all in,” it said. “Whole heart.”
She graduated from York University with a bachelor of fine arts and later worked as co-ordinator of emergency care profile at the Red Cross — helping co-ordinate 1,600 emergency care workers for deployment during COVID-19 operations and natural disasters.
A 12-year-old with a love of animals and dreams of working with them, Pyper was remembered as a “ray of sunshine” and excelled in figure skating and team sports.
She was known for her gentle, happy nature, “except when it came to eating certain vegetables,” the obituary said.
“And no amount of cajoling or bribery or threats made a bit of difference. When she made up her mind, that was it.”
Zoe, 15, was a “natural leader” who volunteered widely for the community library. “Generous to a fault,” she recently treated her cousins to treats even though she was carefully saving toward a school trip to Greece in 2027, a trip she spoke about often and was excited to join.
“Pyper was her closest friend, and biggest supporter – sibling rivalry and all,” the obituary said.
The obituary requests that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made in their memory to Second Chance Pet Network, the Red Cross or Make-A-Wish.
The Kapuskasing OPP asks anyone who witnessed the collision or who has dashcam footage from the area at the time of the incident to contact them at 1-888-310-1122. Anonymous tips can be submitted to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS) or online at ontariocrimestoppers.ca.
