Te Taura Whiri I Te Reo Māori / the Māori Language Commission 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 (Māori Language Week) 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 and assimilation, but also reclamation.
Māori Language Commissioner Rawinia Higgins said while there had been massive progress over the past 50 years, the mahi (work) was not done.
"Whilst that protest happened 50 years ago, we're still on that journey, we still haven't reached that target of a million speakers," Higgins said.
"And so it's still important to remember the past, reflect on it and see where we are at the moment, celebrate what we do have, but actually where do we need to get to next."
Māori Language Commissioner Rawinia Higgins. Photo / Supplied
Ten years before the petition was presented to Parliament in 1972, Māori were still being banned from being allowed to go in certain public places and some retail outlets.
It was official policy to discourage the speaking of Māori in schools through a state-run project of assimilation. This was often enforced through corporal punishment.
Higgins said the campaign was about giving Māori the chance to learn about the experiences of whānau in battling for te reo Māori.
"We encourage people, particularly young people, to ask their parents, ask their grandparents and share those stories and upload them," Higgins said.
"Because I think once we have this collect[ive] memory of what our society used to be like, we can kind of take a better appreciation of where we are today," she said.
"We really want to be able to share with other people who might be starting out on that journey, or who may connect on a level of loss and what their families [have] done to reverse that."
This year also marks a few other milestones for te ao Māori; 35 years since te reo became an official language in its own land; 40 years since the first kōhanga reo was opened, and 50 years since Te Matatini kapa haka festival began.
At 11.30am on Wednesday, there will be a national commemoration to mark the 50th anniversary of the Māori language petition being delivered to Parliament.
