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JOHN C. PAYETTE
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Welcome to the Official Website of 

JOHN C. PAYETTE

Author of
NITAM The First
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About
nitam the first

A story of a disparate trio of Anishinaabe teens who found each other while trying to escape their personal terrors. It soon becomes a spiritual journey of one of those boys, who, through a sentence from the courts, an assemblage of unique people, and the teaching stories of his father, learns the importance of self, others, and family.

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NitAm The First

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About         ​
​John C. Payette

John, a member of the Wikwemikong Unceded Indian Reserve on the Manitoulin Island, has a Bachelor of  Education in Native Studies from Brock University, St Catherines, Ontario.

Born in 1945, John grew up in an urban environment at a time when there was still a government policy that mandated Indian children be placed in Residential Schools purposely to strip these children of their Native language, customs, and traditions. The realization of the fate of other children from his home Reserve manifested itself through the years into a self-guilt. John realized he was a Native child that had escaped the horrors of Residential Schools primarily because his father ensured he grew up speaking English off the Reserve.  

​Because of the government policies towards Natives, John never got to learn to speak the Ojibwe language that his father wanted so much to teach him. His father's fear of John being sent to one of those residential schools if he were to teach him his Native language was real. Growing up in the 50s, and 60s, John felt the ever-present condescending attitude towards him simply because of his Native looks. This life experience left John scarred in a different way than those growing up on his home Reserve.

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    john c. payette​

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