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'Racism at its finest':

On Sunday, Jadene Kini and her friend Madison Bartlett went to the famous Gold Coast pub Burleigh Pavilion, but were denied entry, in what the pair call "racism at its finest".Staff at the Burleigh Pavilion told the pair, Kini's moko kauae was against the pub's dress code. Kini said they tried to highlight the significance of her moko kauae, but their appeal fell on deaf ears. "Every Māori woman has birthright for kauae, it's an identity, it's who you are and where you come from," Kini tol...

Māori flag flown

Raised as Māori Language week began yesterday, the tino rangatiratanga flag is set to stay at Otago Polytechnic. Karakia, waiata and an impromptu haka took place during the noon ceremony at the Dunedin campus as the Māori flag was raised to half-mast.Otago Polytechnic Students’ Association president Ezra Tamati first requested it be flown alongside the New Zealand flag in February last year.The ideal day for the ceremony was clear after approval was granted in June."We got to pick the day. T...

Te Tiriti history

Those designing the curriculum shouldn't avoid Te Tiriti facts that may provoke a reaction, particularly among those still clinging on to narratives of consensual colonisation, writes Christopher BurnsWhen the Government announced that New Zealand history would be prescribed in schools, Jacinda Ardern said that under the existing model “too much is left to chance in the teaching and learning of New Zealand history”.  The framework to support teachers to teach Aotearoa New...

Te Reo Māori:

On August 1, 1987, te reo Māori became “an official language of New Zealand”. But what does it mean to be “an official language”? Glenn McConnell explains.Status as an “official language” has given weight to efforts focused on revitalising te reo Māori, language advocates such as Te Taura Whiri chief executive Ngahiwi Apanui say, but there are now calls for more tangible measures to better protect and grow te reo.As Aotearoa marks 50 years since Te Petihana Reo Māori was presented...

Watch:

Tonight in a special episode for Te Wiki o te Reo Māori, The Hui follows the language journey of te reo Māori learners from across the motu.The Hui meets the man proving it's not too late to learn Te Reo, and they also check out the new language course offering a unique approach to learning te reo Māori.Then, Minister for Māori Development Willie Jackson discusses the new Māori media sector review.And later, Newshub presenter Mike McRoberts is in the studio to talk about his new documentary...

Ten-and-a-half reasons

OPINION: After years of relying on osmosis to learn, I finally enrolled in a te reo Māori class to bring some structure to my utterances.It’s working. At last, those vowel-heavy words hold purpose rather than just serving as a challenge for my mouth to get around.Today, we launch into our annual Te Wiki o Te Reo. To celebrate, I offer some reasons why New Zealanders longstanding or newly-arrived, pākeha, Māori, both and all, should get more serious about learning the language too, in n...

Quiz:

This year, Aotearoa marks 50 years since Te Petihana Reo Māori was presented to Parliament. Te reo Māori has been an official language in New Zealand since August 1, 1987.Do you know your āporo from your kawhe? Test your te reo knowledge with our quiz.If you find you need to upskill, take our short te reo Māori video power lessons.Link to article: Quiz: Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori 2022 | Stuff.co.nz...

Te wiki o te reo Māori:

Te Taura Whiri I Te Reo Māori is calling for New Zealanders to share their stories of how they have battled for te reo Māori.This te wiki o te reo Māori marks 50 years since the Māori language petition was presented to parliament, calling for its active recognition.The commission has created an interactive website, detailing the history of the language from the 1600s.But for it to work, it is asking for whānau to share their stories of experiences of suppression, assimilation but ...

Ko Wai Ahau

A pepeha is a way of introducing yourself in Māori. It tells people who you are by sharing your connections with the people and places that are important to you.Using a set structure it identifies who you are, where you're from and where you belong.For Māori, pepeha points to whakapapa (ancestry). Whakapapa speaks to relationships and links with the land, the sea, the environment, our world and the universe. The idea of pepeha is universal. Everyone has a pepeha that links them to their ancest...

Countdown self-checkouts

A collaboration between Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori (the Māori Language Commission) and Countdown sees customers able to use self-checkouts in te reo Māori.It's a world-first for Countdown customers to be able to have te reo Māori as a language option at self-service checkouts, with an audio greeting and farewell already established. More audio in te reo Māori will be added to the system in the next few months.With over three million customers through their stories every week, Countdown D...

Māori cannibalism,

My new novel Kāwai portrays Maori society in the 1700s and kaitangata - referred to as cannibalism in ethnographic literature - was very much a part of that society. To ignore it in the novel would be to be unfaithful to what I know about this period.Cannibalism has its own life in the historiography which emanates from Europe. It doesn’t necessarily convey deeper Māori understandings of the term. But while Kāwai does not shy away from difficult history, I must remind th...

Northern Māori helped Kāi Tahu revive its reo from 'grave of language death'

Twelve-year-old Hana O’Regan went off up to Auckland's Queen Victoria Māori Girls' Boarding School confident she had a good grasp of her reo.Read this story in te reo Māori and English here. / Pānuitia tēnei i te reo Māori me te reo Pākehā ki konei.Then she realised snippets of Māori colours, body parts, and greetings did not make good conversation with her more fluent northern peers.So began her dream to help reclaim te reo Māori from a “grave of language death” within ...

Whānau Ora v Whānau Ora:

The Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency is seeking damages and an injunction against a South Auckland-based primary health care provider which it says has been "playing off" its name.The Whānau Ora Community Clinic, which has practices in Auckland, Northland and Christchurch, was served with a cease and desist order on August 4.The agency gave the clinic 21 working days to stop using the name, or face further legal action.Link to article: Whānau Ora v Whānau Ora: Commissioning Agency seeks ...

EGGS and bones:

Two Māori teenagers being asked to perform karakia over old human remains that were “found” in a high school has left me feeling a little less hopeful about the progress of race relations in Aotearoa. I’ve been told by former students that these kōiwi have been known about for years and nothing has been done about it. Regardless of the fact that the bones had been donated for scientific purposes, most people will agree that it’s completely inappropriate to ask two students, t...

He Toa Reo Māori,

Link: He Toa Reo Māori, 50 years on - Te Petihana Reo Māori 50th Anniversary Event | Facebook...

Waiata Anthems Week

Link: https://www.facebook.com/watch......

Ngāti Maniapoto sees return of taiaha

A significant taiaha held in Tūhura Otago Museum has been returned to Ngāti Maniapoto ahead of the tribe's Treaty of Waitangi claim settlement by Parliament.Ngāti Maniapoto representatives from the North Island iwi were joined by others from Otago and Murihiku to receive the taonga at a special ceremony on Wednesday morning.The taiaha named 'Maungārongo' will be taken to Parliament where it will be on display for several years before returning to Ngāti Maniapoto.Link to article: Ngāti...

Rotorua homeless charity

The Rotorua homeless charity at the centre of Sunday programme allegations has hit back in a social media post claming the show “significantly misrepresented the Contracted Emergency Housing services that are provided in Rotorua by all providers”.The post from Visions of a Helping Hand comes in the wake of allegations on the TVNZ Sunday programme that the emergency accommodation provider had thrown women out of their motels, and employed unlicensed security guards.Māori Party co-leader and ...

Taitā College students peel back layers

Settlers, farmers and scientists have all had their way with the once lush piece of land adjoining Taitā College. Nadine Hura meets the students and teachers reclaiming the forest and wetlands. I think you can fall in love with a place once you know its story. Or you can at least start to see it differently. Every Thursday for the past year I’ve driven from Porirua to Taitā, around the glassy Pauatahanui inlet, through the undulating Haywards, and across the meandering Awakairangi. ...

Police illegally photographing youth, Māori

An investigation has found police are routinely and illegally photographing and filming young people and adults, the police and privacy watchdogs say.That is just one of the findings in their bombshell joint inquiry that has revealed systemic problems with the way police take, store and use people's private biometric information.The Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) and the Privacy Commission (OPC) launched their investigation as a direct result of reporting by RNZ that police in ...

Māori students asked to perform karakia

Whānau were left upset after two Māori students from Epsom Girls Grammar were asked to perform a karakia on human kōiwi (bones) found at the prestigious school.The school said the teacher who asked the students to perform the blessing was well-intentioned but it was a breach of tikanga and it should not have happened.The father of one of the girls, who RNZ has agreed not to name, said after his daughter told him what had occurred, he was concerned and angry and was now worried it may be a wid...

Waiata and haka drown out complaints

Complaints made in a Christchurch hockey tournament crowd about a Māori secondary school’s use of te reo on the turf were drowned out with waiata and haka when supporters arrived en masse.Te Kura Kaupapa Māori (TKKM) o Ruamata’s boys team’s haka to start the Johnson Cup final at Ngā Puna Wai Sports Hub in Ōtautahi last week was described as a “refreshing” and rare event for the sport by commentators.But a local kura kaupapa caught wind of disapproval among the crowd during the tour...

Heather du Plessis-Allan:

I’ve suspected something for a while, and now that I’ve watched the Sunday programme on the emergency housing disaster in Roturua, I’m convinced.  Rotorua will not recover from this.  It will not go back to being the city it was. It’s just not possible.  This has gone too far now. 50 motels on or near Fenton Street are housing the homeless. There are about 1100 people in Rotorua in these motels or similar.All of these people need houses. ...

“I will not speak Maori”

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Entertainer Moana Maniapoto says te reo is a gift

It's been an absolute ataahua month for TV host and Māori entertainer Moana Maniapoto.Over the last few weeks, her TV show Te Ao with Moana won back-to-back Best Current Affairs Show at the Voyager Media Awards 2022.Last week her 1991 song AEIOU was re-released by Tiki Taane as one of the 26 Waiata Anthems and on Friday, the first lady of Māori entertainment, Maniapoto, singer, songwriter and documentary maker will be part of the M9 speakers at the Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre at Auckland's Aotea Ce...