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Boy with autism asks Children's Commissioner:

Judge Andrew Becroft intervened in the case after the boy, 13, wrote to him following his suspension for his involvement in a fight.The boy moved to the school last year as a directed enrolment, meaning the Ministry of Education ordered the school to enrol him after it initially refused.Becroft recently defended the rights of such children after the Principals' Federation suggested schools refuse to enrol them unless the ministry provided sufficient support to keep them and others...

Health advocates cautiously optimistic

Health NZ, a single national agency, will replace the country’s 20 DHBs as the Government promises a better and more equal standard of care.  An additional Māori health entity will sit alongside Health NZ. It aims to improve the health policies and funding available for Māori who statistically suffer from worse health. National remains critical of the changes, with the party’s health spokesperson Shane Reti saying the shift would create a “two-tier” health system. The party, thoug...

Report: Māori youth more likely to die than non-Māori

A new report has found Māori youth aged between 15 and 18 years old three times more likely to die in the 30 days following major trauma than non-Māori in the same age group.The Perioperative Mortality Review Committee (POMRC) is now calling for District Health Boards to conduct an in-depth review into all cases of major trauma resulting in hospitalisation.POMRC member Dr Dick Ongley says the reviews must consider the role of implicit bias and institutional racism, after the report found Māor...

First it was fighting for land,

It’s a fact it takes one generation to lose a language and at least three to get it back, Kiley Nēpia, pou ahurea (cultural advisor), of Ngāti Apa ki te Rā Tō said.One of the ways Te Tauihu-o-te-waka-a-Māui iwi are making sure that doesn’t happen again is by organising a Māori language symposium called, Te Kaiaotanga o te Reo, the first ever to be held at the top of the South Island.“Language, culture, identity, they’re all linked together, and we want our children t...

Ridiculed South African rugby team

A South African university rugby team are defending their use of the All Blacks haka after they were ridiculed for performing it this week.Walter Sisulu University, from East London in the Eastern Cape, performed ‘Kapa o Pango' before their opening Varsity Shield match against Durban University of Technology at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria.A video of it went viral and prompted a backlash on social media. It was labelled “disrespectful”, “embarrassing”, “in poor taste”, “an insult ...

Colonisation took away opportunity

A Manawatū iwi has told a Waitangi Tribunal of how colonisation stripped away the use of te reo, a crucial part of Māori culture, in the area.The Manawatū ki Porirua inquiry continued at Te Awahou Nieuwe Stroom in Foxton on Wednesday, where submitters spoke about the state of te reo Māori and education since colonisation.This week of hearings is about the area around Foxton, but is part of the Ngāti Raukawa iwi treaty claim on the historical purchase of about 130,000 hectares of land betwee...

Māori stories and language

Huia Publishers has been a trailblazer for publishing for 30 years, committed to providing a platform for Māori voices and perspectives.Robyn Bargh founded the business in 1991, when the publishers of the time weren’t producing the books she wanted to read, the books that spoke to her experience as Māori.Since then, the Māori-led business has produced more than 1000 books in te reo Māori, and thousands more fiction and non-fiction titles written in English.When Huia first began, books that...

Wahine Māori farmer

Originally published by Māori Television.Bringing a tikanga Māori perspective to dairy farming, while encouraging more wāhine Māori into the sector - that's the approach of Chevon Horsford, a finalist for the 2021 Fonterra Dairy Woman of the Year award.Horsford was one of three finalists for the award and said she was inspired by the way her tipuna managed the land in a sustainable way and believed those principles and techniques could be applied to modern farming, especially on whenua Māor...

New Maori program

A new project currently in development is establishing a Te Ao Maori Localised Curriculum for all 67 Tauranga Moana schools, early childhood centres and the wider community in partnership with Tauranga Moana Iwi. The project, called Te Tai Whanake ki Tauranga Moana, will be a first for New Zealand, bringing all Tauranga Moana Iwi and schools together in a unique and enduring way. The Te Ao Maori Local Curriculum will encompass foundational Te Reo, our Tikanga, stories and history, and will ...

'Insult to Māori':

A South African university rugby side have been slammed on social media after performing a haka before their opening match of the Varsity Shield.Walter Sisulu University, nicknamed the All Blacks, performed their rendition of the All Blacks haka Kapa O Pango against the Rhinos, with the video since going viral online.But fans were not impressed."As a Kiwi this is really in poor taste. The Haka belongs to the Māori people. Very disrespectful by this team to think it's okay to use it for themselv...

New AUT law dean

Khylee Quince has become the first Māori to head a law school in Aotearoa.The Covid-19 pandemic means Associate Professor Quince will become interim dean at Auckland University of Technology's law school until the university is able to complete its international search.She feels she is following in the footsteps of her Ngāti Porou whanaunga Sir Apirana Ngata, who became the first Māori lawyer in 1896, and Dame Georgina Te Heuheu, who 75 years later became the first wahine Māori admitted to t...

Whānau and hapū of Te Waiariki

Whānau and hapū of Te Waiariki are activating legal expertise to consider 'every legal avenue possible' to raise concerns over the sale of their ancestral lands which are currently owned by DOC.For over two weeks the working group, Te Matakīrea o Pātaua has led the response from affected whānau and hapū of Te Waiariki, holding an occupation on land at Te Mautohe ki Pātaua just outside of Whangārei.A fifth tribal wānanga hosted by Te Mautohe ki Pātaua was held on the land this week and ...

Descendant of Māori chiefs says

A Ngāpuhi woman who has been priced out of ever owning another home says she feels the housing crisis has resulted in the loss of her identity.Julia Frelan lost her family home in 2009 after her husband had a stroke, one of her children was hospitalised, and debt from a failed business venture resulted in her declaring bankruptcy.In the years since, the Auckland woman has been mostly working as a therapy assistant but has never managed to get back on the ladder. She regained her credit rating b...

Hand back

Maori Council executive director Matthew Tukaki wants local bodies to hand back some of the Maōri land they have seized for unpaid rates over the past century.He told Te Ao Tapatahi that the passing of the Local Government Rating of Whenua Māori Amendment Act through Parliament this week was a “great first step.”“Rates on Māori land have been a massive issue for a very long time. We’ve seen councils go to the district courts and seize or use that land for years.“It’s bee...

Time for a new way to save

OPINION: We’ve spent billions of dollars fighting Covid-19, but unless we find a way to seriously address income disparity in New Zealand, then we are clearly saying that it’s okay to have 30 mostly brown babies from overcrowded homes die in their sleep each year.The recent numbers are stark. Sixty-four infant deaths died between November 2018 and June 2020 with some indication of a recent increase in numbers, particularly among Māori infants.Right now Māori infants are 8.5 times...

Mana whenua gain full voting rights

Mana whenua representatives in Wellington will be given full voting rights and will sit on nearly all council committees and subcommittees.At a council meeting this morning, a majority of eight councillors to six voted in favour of the decision.Currently, representatives from Taranaki Whānui ki Te Upoko o Te Ika and Ngāti Toa Rangatira are members of the Strategy and Policy Committee, and the Annual / Long Term Plan Committee.They receive no remuneration and have no voting rights.Und...

Authority rules

The Employment Relations Authority finds Oranga Tamariki was justified to compulsorily retire a social worker. David Williams reportsA personal grievance taken by a former Oranga Tamariki staffer has failed.Bai Zammit-Ross had been a social worker for the Ministry for Children since 2010, working at the Te Puna Wai ō Tuhinapo, a Christchurch youth justice facility. Her wrist was injured in 2017, while breaking up a fight between two youths, and that spiralled into other health issues, including...

Dr Monty Soutar,

Several decades ago Dr Monty Soutar knew someone would have a crack at writing the books he is currently working on, he just did not know it would be him.The historian, Māori scholar and Waitangi Tribunal member has recently been awarded the prestigious, biennial $100,000 Michael King Writer’s Fellowship from Creative New Zealand to finish his trilogy, Kāwai – a saga from the uttermost end of the Earth.The historical novels narrate the experiences of nine successive generations of one...

Haka Party Incident play

A play about a triggering point in Aotearoa history reveals the country's racist past and what it took to change as a nation. The Haka Party Incident premieres at ASB Waterfront Theatre tonight, and delves into a historic event where young Māori activists clashed with engineering students from Auckland University, who were giving a mock performance of the haka in 1979 during traditional capping escapades. Director Katie Wolfe of Ngāti Mutunga and Ng...

Taonga returns home

Tears flowed as a taonga with whakapapa to Tūhoe prophet Rua Kēnana was returned home last week ahead of a symposium this weekend to reflect on his life and legacy.The taonga, a kahu huruhuru (feathered cloak), belonged to Rua Kēnana's daughter Pinepine and was stolen by armed police when they raided the village of Maungapōhatu in the Urewera Ranges to arrest Rua Kēnana on false charges 105 years ago.Police also killed two Māori men at the settlement, including Rua Kēnana's son Toko.The s...

Celebrating 'Imagining Decolonisation'

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Film: Cousins

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Decolonizing the Mind and Mindfulness

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Govt announces multi-million dollar funding

While the industry is under pressure with the increasing shortage of midwives around New Zealand, the problem is even more prevalent in Māori and Pasifika communities who currently represent just 12 percent of the workforce. Yet together, they make up 30 percent of women giving birth.An announcement from Associate Health Minister Dr Ayesha Verrall on Tuesday will give $6 million over the next four years to provide wrap-around care, academic support and to actively recruit Māori and Pasifika. T...

"Culture as Cure?

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