User:Joefish597/Joe Tom Sayers

Joe Tom Sayers is an Anishenabe inini (Ojibway man) born to Gordon Jon Sayers and Donna (nee Goodfellow) Sayers in 1967. Joe Tom's birthplace is Toronto, Ontario due to the tragic event of his father being injured in a car accident that left him a quadriplegic. While recovering from his accident, Gordon's wife Donna was nine months pregnant and in Toronto to assist in his convalescence. The youngest of nine children, Joe Tom spent his first 4 years with his parents two room shack in the village of Batchawana Bay: 50 miles north east of Sault Ste. Marie Ontario on Hiway 563. The family moved from Batchawana Village to a new subdivision on the Rankin Reserve 15D adjacent to the east boundary of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. Joe Tom attended Manitou Park Public School and White Pines Collegiate and Vocational School. Joe Tom played hockey starting in a house league, then double AA peewee, bantam divisions then moved to a triple AAA team in Midget and played a short stint with Junior B team Soo Indians. Joe Tom was an active youth leader in his First Nation community and volunteered in planning recreation activities, cultural activities and legal/justice issues dealing with aboriginal and treaty rights to hunt and fish. Joe Tom chaired the Batchewana Youth on the Move project that raised over 20,000 for a group of youth to travel to Florida in 1984. Joe Tom was an avid runner and competed in the 7.5 and 10km cross country races and was a member of the White Pines track and field team, running the 400, 800 and 3000 metre events. After completing high school, he worked for the Batchewana First Nation Education Department as a student counselor and attended Sault College for university preparation courses. He applied for and was accepted by the Program in Journalism at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario. Upon graduating, he was hired as the Land Claims researcher for the Batchewana First Nation, and during his two year term had developed the terms of settlement to Whitefish Island, negotiated the terms of agreement re: treaty commercial fishing, and developed the original plan to reclaim the St. Mary's Canal at Sault Ste. Marie. Joe Tom also lectured at Algoma University College and gave presentations to local public and separate elementary and secondary schools on First Nation history and culture.....more to come