Better Late than Not at All

Dr Pita Sharples and Tariana Turia, Co-leaders of the Maori Party

Race Relations Day; Wednesday 21 March 2007

The Maori Party today was moved to reflect on the historic report of April 1986, the report of the Waitangi Tribunal on the Te Reo Maori Claim [WAI 11].

“While we are extremely pleased to see draft curriculum guidelines being launched today for the teaching and learning of te reo Maori in English-medium schools, we can not help but wonder why it took so long for this day to arrive” said Dr Pita Sharples, Co-leader of the Maori Party.

The recommendation that ‘instruction in Maori should be available as of right to the children of parents who seek it’ was one of the findings in the Te Reo Maori Claim first lodged with Hon Koro Wetere in 1986.

“That report was one of those pivotal moments in our history, which it is appropriate to turn to today, this Race Relations Day” said Dr Sharples.

“The Tribunal stated it clearly, in recommending that

‘te reo Maori should be restored to its proper place by making it an official language of New Zealand….we say that it should be widely taught from an early stage in the educational process”.

“Today, on the eve of the 21st birthday of this report, we are finally seeing their recommendations taken on board” said Dr Sharples.

“What is so tragic about the two decades and more that it has taken for this day to come, is that the great majority of our tamariki are in primary and secondary mainstream schools where Maori language has not been readily available” stated Tariana Turia, Co-leader of the Maori Party. “They have missed out – and the Census results clearly show that”.

As at 1 July 2005, 91.6% of all Maori children (148,802) are in primary and secondary mainstream schools.

“We remember the warning of 1986, that ‘English has swamped the Maori language and done it great harm’” said Mrs Turia.

“We can only hope that it won’t take another 21 years for effective and sustained professional development to kick in, to support the initiative launched today” said Mrs Turia.

“The history of annihilation of our language must never be forgotten” said Mrs Turia. “Up until the 1930s, te reo Maori was still the predominant language in Maori homes – but successive government policies of assimilation caused it to rapidly decline in use”.

“We have also been thinking today of the persistence and commitment of tangata whenua in their commitment to the revival of te reo – such as the Whakatipuranga Rua Mano strategy in 1975 from Ngâti Raukawa, Ngâti Toa and Te Âti Awa; the initiative of Tuhoe in establishing Ruatoki School as the first bilingual school (1978); the Te Ataarangi movement; Maori broadcasting, nga kura kaupapa Maori and kohanga reo”.

Background Information

The Te Reo Maori Claim was lodged by Huirangi Waikerepuru and Nga Kaiwhakapumau i te Reo Incorporated Society, Edward Taihakurei Durie, Sir Graham Latimer, Paul Temm. The finding of the report concluded:

“The evidence and argument has made it clear to us, that by the Treaty the Crown did promise to recognise and protect the language, and that that promise has not been kept. The guarantee in the Treaty requires affirmative action to protect and sustain the language, not a passive obligation to tolerate its existence and certainly not a right to deny its use in any place.

It is, after all, the first language of the country, the language of the original inhabitants and the language in which the first signed copy of the Treaty was written. But educational policy over many years and the effect of the media in using almost nothing but English has swamped the Maori language and done it great harm”.

ENDS

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