[3] As a young child, her parents, Ina and Clarence Payne, moved to New York City for school and work, leaving her behind in Barbados.

Payne began competing for Canada at the 1979 Pan American Games, where she won a bronze medal with the 4 × 400 metres relay team.

At the championships, held in Helsinki, she finished fifth in the 400 metres – the best performance by a non-European athlete in the discipline, breaking the existing Commonwealth record with a time of 50.06.

At the 1984 Summer Olympics, held in Los Angeles, Payne won a silver medal in the 4 × 400 metres relay with her teammates Charmaine Crooks, Jillian Richardson and Molly Killingbeck.

She also competed with her teammates Angela Bailey, Angella Taylor-Issajenko and France Gareau in the 4 × 100 metres relay, in which the team also won a silver medal.

Marita Payne Park, located in Concord, where she was raised, is also within walking distance of her family's current residence in Vaughan.

They have two other sons, Nick, who played basketball for the Wichita State Shockers and Mitchell II, and three daughters: Stephanie, Angelica, and Taya.