Ngā Puawai Ō Ngāpuhi rings out in celebration of Far North District Council voting to keep its Ngā Tai o Tokerau Māori Ward for the next local elections in 2025.
A council meeting held in 80% te reo Māori, likely a first in New Zealand, heralds ongoing growth in the language’s use.
The three-hour marae-style Māori ward decision meeting, held near Kaikohe on the eve of Te Wiki o te Reo Māori - Māori Language Week, was a Far North District Council (FNDC) record.
Mayor/Kahika Moko Tepania said te reo Māori was commonly used in council meetings, to differing degrees, in part related to the matters being considered, but not to the degree used at the meeting.
Timothy, aged 6, was learning how to make a Tukutuku Toi Māori - a traditional art form - with Te Ahu Librarian Aria Robin-Underwood, as part of the library’s Te Wiki o te Reo Māori (Māori Language week).
Tepania, who is also Local Government New Zealand’s Northland board member, said conducting this meeting largely in te reo was fitting for the meeting where a number of kaumatua and leaders from the Far North’s 12 iwi and hapū were present as the council formally voted to keep its Ngā Tai o Tokerau Māori Ward for next year’s local elections in the face of new government legislation.
The meeting mixed New Zealand’s typical local government meeting conduct protocol with Māori tikanga and te reo Māori throughout.
Far North iwi leaders spoke, each kōrero followed with a waiata. Haka was also part of the day. Students from Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Kaikohe, where Tepania previously taught te reo Māori, were among about 150 people at the livestreamed meeting, their waiata and haka part of the growing use of te reo and tikanga in and around the council.
More than half of FNDC’s councillors are fluent te reo Māori speakers, and 70% of the 11 councillors are Māori.
Te reo Māori and tikanga Māori was important, Tepania said, and Te Wiki o te Reo Māori offered valuable opportunities for all New Zealanders to grow further into the taonga.
“It offers valuable opportunities for the council, Far Northerners and all New Zealanders to grow further in the language at whatever level that are at, or wherever they’re from,” Tepania said.
A te reo Māori to English interpreter worked during the meeting, providing translation via earplugs.
Tepania has a Master of Education with First Class Honours, with his dissertation focused on using maramataka, the Māori lunar calendar for learning te reo Māori in education. This followed a Bachelor of Teaching (Secondary) and a Bachelor of Arts in Te Reo Māori.
Tepania started learning te reo Māori 20 years ago, as a subject at Whangārei’s Pompallier Catholic College, rather than French, because food was provided in class.
He said the increasing use of te reo Māori and tikanga across the council was about honouring the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, in line with the Local Government Act requirements.
FNDC has a two-year goal of all staff having been through introductory te reo lessons by October 2025. It has recently appointed its first in-house te reo Māori and tikanga specialist to assist.
Then Far North councillor Moko Tepania spoke te reo only during the council’s September 24 2020 council meeting, in celebration of Māori language month, pictured with former Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Kaikohe student Nia Kara who translated his words into English.
The council now has formal policies for boosting te reo and tikanga at the council and also has a Māori framework for its council operations.
The council’s next Te Kuaka - Te Ao Māori committee meeting will see the development of a formal implementation plan to further embed te reo Māori and tikanga.
The council’s February name change ahead of Waitangi Day is one example of building this approach. The council has also developed te reo Māori words for some of the typical jargon words for council’s functions. FNDC is again celebrating Maori language week, this year across its six libraries - commemorating the anniversary of the Māori language petition Te Petihana Reo Māori during the week. The petition was presented to Parliament in 1972. Te reo Māori became an official language of Aotearoa in 1987.
Tepania said te reo Māori was particularly important in the Far North where just over half the population identified as Māori and a lot of Northlanders were already passive te reo speakers.
This meant they were comfortable with te reo Māori and could roughly follow what was being talked about, without necessarily being able to understand every spoken word or speak it themselves.
Tepania said te reo Māori was particularly important in the Far North where just over half the population identified as Māori.
He said a lot of Northlanders were already passive te reo speakers.
Tepania said learning te reo was great for the young people of the Far North, which could take them anywhere.
