Human Rights Commission
Te Kähui Tika Tangata
On the Bright Side
January/ Kohitätea 2003

Kia ora. Here are this month's acknowledgments from the Race Relations Commissioner for positive contributions to race relations in New Zealand. We wish you a Happy New Year, Kia piki te ora i te tau hou.

Consulate of Ireland

For the New Zealand Irish Directory website, which has comprehensive information on Irish events, sports, radio, bars and pubs, shops, tourism and trade. The site bears testimony to the high level of Irish cultural identity in New Zealand, and would serve as an excellent model for other cultural communities. Visit the site at www.ireland.co.nz .

Porirua College

For the introduction of a comprehensive Maori and Pasefika languages programme for Year 9-10 Students and Beyond, December, 2003. At the end of year prizegiving ceremony, the school announced that from this year all year 9 and 10 students will study a language selected from Te Reo Maori, Gagana Samoa, Gagana Tokelau, Te Reo Kuki Airani and Ngana Tuvalu. The school has taken up the challenge of last year's Ministry of Education curriculum report which recommended that all students learn at least one language in addition to English. The subjects will also be available beyond year 10. The school believes it is the first New Zealand state school to fully acknowledge the importance of languages spoken in New Zealand in this way. New Pacific Studies courses will also provide windows into life as it is lived in Pacific nations. For more information contact Kate Gainsford at Porirua College.

Waiuku and Districts Post

For its Panui page which provides news in te reo Mäori for its readers. This community paper (circulation 9500) is way ahead of its metropolitan cousins in providing for its Mäori readers. The column is published every week and is a popular feature of the paper. As the paper points out on its website, Waiuku has had a long and proud history as an important place in New Zealand. Pre European times saw the area as a stop over place for Maori as they travelled from the north to the south via the Manukau Harbour and Waikato River. Waiuku was the point where the canoes were hauled out and taken over a short portage to the Awaroa River which joins the Waikato River. With the coming of the Europeans in early 1800, Waiuku took on more significance as a trading port, when Maori brought their produce, grown in the Waikato via the portage to the young Auckland town. Waiuku was a gathering place, a place to share news and events that had happened on journeys and between Maori and Pakeha settlers alike. Visit their website at www.deedprint.co.nz/post.htm.

Outward Bound Trust of New Zealand

For organising a special 21 day "Southern Cross" course at Anakiwa for a multi-ethnic group of young New Zealanders, February 2004. With sponsorship from Sky City and in consultation with the Human Rights Commission, Outward Bound will host 14 young Aucklanders to undertake a 21-day personal development classic course at Anakiwa. Various ethnic communities have nominated participants, who will comprise 2 Fiji-Indian, 4 Maori, 3 Pasefika, 2 Pakeha, 1 Polish and 2 Asian young people between the ages of 18-30. The objective of the course is to provide the participants with an opportunity for their own personal development and to provide them with insight into and understanding of the needs and aspirations of their fellow group members who by their very nature are an integral part of Auckland's multicultural society. Outward Bound's website is at www.outwardbound.co.nz .

For news about race relations visit the Human Rights Commission website (www.hrc.co.nz). Recent topics include the foreshore and seabed, human rights and the Treaty of Waitangi, Race Relations Day (March 21), and the International Race Relations Commissioners Round Table to be held in Auckland from 2-5 February 2004.

Previous editions can be found at

http://www.hrc.co.nz/index.php?p=13789#3.

© Scoop Media

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