Nga Kaiwhakapumau I Te Reo

Tu Tangata, Issue 30, 1 July 1986, Page 16

Nga Kaiwhakapumau I Te Reo

Statement by claimant

[The Wellington Maori Language Board]

Poneke 5 Mei 1986

E NGA iwi ote motu, tena koutou, tena koutou. Tenei te mihi atu ki a koutou i runga i te ahuatanga ki ta tatou take nui, ara, to tatou reo Maori, kua whakawakia nei e te Taraipiunara o Waitangi. Ka hoki nga mahara ki te iwi kua huri atu ki tua, ki o tatou t upuna e moe nei i te moenga roa. Ka pupu ake te aroha ki a tatou e n oho nei i roto ite rawakore, tirotiro kau atu ki a ratou kua ngaro atu ki te

Po. Kua riro te ihi, te wehi, te wana, kua ngaro atu o a ratou. Engari kaore he mutunga o o ratou whakaaro ki te pupuri ito tatou reo ito tatou mana hoki, i r oto o Aotearoa. No reira koutou i runga i nga marae katoa o te mot tenet te oha at u ki a koutou, na koutou ano tatou i waimarie ai, i puta ai, i roto i tenei ripoata ote Taraipiunara o Waitangi.

The Wellington Maori Language Board are very pleased with the decision of the Waitangi Tribunal on the claim on laws and policies affecting the Maori language. The Tribunal found that the Treaty requires active affirmative action by Governments on the language, and that inaction by Governments has harmed the language very seriously

indeed, according to Chairman Huirangi Waikerepuru. The most immediate effect of the report will be to increase the extent of official recognition contained in the Government’s just introduced Maori Language Bill. Recommendation No. 1 to the Minister of Maori Affairs and the Prime Minister, is that legislation be

introduced enabling any person who wishes not only to use Maori in the Courts, but also in dealings with Government Departments, local authorities and public bodies. If agreed to by the Government, these recommendations will mean that the Maori Language Bill will have to be strengthened dramatically, to allow

Maori speakers to transact official business in Maori, both spoken and written. People will be allowed to use written

Maori in the Courts, something expressly not allowed in the Maori Language Bill introduced to the house last week, Mr Waikerepuru said. The job of the proposed Commissioner of Official Languages will become that of actually administering and fostering the language as a real official language, not as a measure in name only. The kind of measure introduced by the Government last week must be avoided, Mr Waikerepuru said. Such a model is firmly rejected by the Tribunal, who point out throughout the report that only full recognition will measure up against the Treaty of Waitangi, and enhance the chances of survival of the language. As the Tribunal says: (p 66, para 8.2.8) “To recognise Maori officially is one thing, to enable its use widely is another thing altogether. There must be more than just the right to use it in the Courts. There must also be the right to use it with any Department and any local body if official recognition is to be real recognition and not mere tokenism.” All of our supporters should get behind this report and put submissions in to the Prime Minister and the Select Committee on the Maori Language Bill, to have it truly allow the official use of the language. By doing so we will help save it and turn a corner in our country’s history, Mr Waikerepuru said. On Education The Tribunal’s findings on the Education of Maori children pull no punches, Mr Waikerepuru said also. The system is found by the Tribunal to have been at fault for many years (p 49) para 6.3.2. The Tribunal links this tragedy with the dangerous gap which has opened

between Maori and pakeha and specifically warns that schools are the place to begin, in avoiding racial tension and vio-

lence in the future. The urgent enquiry into the education of Maori children and the future of maori language education recommended by the Tribunal, are one of the keys to the survival of the kohanga reo movement, and ultimately the language, says Mr Waikerepuru. On Broadcasting The Waitangi Tribunal has deferred specific findings and recommendations on the language in Broadcasting, so that the jurisdiction of the Royal Commission can produce its very detailed set of recommendations later in the year. Nga Kaiwhakapumau approves of this legal necessity and will monitor those recommendations closely, according to Mr Waikerepuru. The Waitangi Tribunal did feel that things were going astray in actually carrying out policy on Maori programming, and has suggested that the Corporation stage an internal inquiry on Maori Broadcasting p 58, para 7.3.8. Mr Waikerepuru says Maori people have been profoundly disappointed by the failure of this Government to give us its promised Maori Radio station; with the BCNZ having stonewalled its development. If stations are not begun by the Royal Commission’s recommendations we will urge the Waitangi Tribunal to reconvene as it says it may do, to make a supplementary finding. We are only too well aware that such a station was a

major recommendation of the Adams Cabinet Committee on Broadcasting in 1973, but it was abandoned upon a change of Government, at great cost to our language. We must have some small Maori radio stations, as well as one or two larger ones in the metropolitan areas. The Treaty, according to the Tribunal, requires the Crown and the Mini-

ster of Broadcasting to actively protect the language in Broadcasting.”

BCNZ withdrawal Nga Kaiwhakapumau I Te Reo has joined the call for the BCNZ to reverse the decision on the agreement to support the Maori television channel bid, says Chairman Huirangi Waikerepuru. “Broadcasting has done great harm to our language, and the funds promised are only a small part of the back rent due. The Waitangi Tribunal has found that Governments and the Corporation are responsible for actively protecting the language. “If the BCNZ is not prepared to honour its agreement at such a critical moment in the ABS claim, then Maori people and non-Maori supporters should show their anger. We are calling on Maori and pakeha supporters of our language and culture to withdraw support from BCNZ and Government - by seeking the immediate boycott of licence fees payable by Maori people. - supporting the call for the resignation of the BCNZ Board.”

Thanking our supporters The Tribunal points out that these hearings were an outstanding team effort by all of Maoridom, and that every major tribe and district was represented. “They came from the four winds and spoke with one voice. The Board was just the spokesman for the claim.” p 11 para 3.1.2. To all our witnesses, whose evidence clearly impressed the Tribunal, to our supporters and helpers, and our marae, we say thank you. Tena koutou, i tenei ra ataahua.