Colonisation took away opportunity for Māori to learn te reo

Wednesday, 14 April 2021

Judge Caren Fox, left, and Monty Soutar are on the Waitangi Tribunal panel hearing at the Manawatū ki Porirua inquiry in Foxton this week.

A Manawatū iwi has told a Waitangi Tribunal of how colonisation stripped away the use of te reo, a crucial part of Māori culture, in the area.

The Manawatū ki Porirua inquiry continued at Te Awahou Nieuwe Stroom in Foxton on Wednesday, where submitters spoke about the state of te reo Māori and education since colonisation.

This week of hearings is about the area around Foxton, but is part of the Ngāti Raukawa iwi treaty claim on the historical purchase of about 130,000 hectares of land between Kāpiti and northern Manawatū.

Ehita Putaka and Valerie Perkins of Ngāti Rakau, a Himatangi iwi, told the tribunal about how previous generations had been forbidden to speak te reo.

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Perkins has five siblings, three children, six grandchildren and one great-grandchild, and none are fluent in te reo.

The Manawatū ki Porirua inquiry is being held at Te Awahou Nieuwe Stroom in Foxton this week.

“My generation were told to not teach children Māori and the pākehā way was the way to go.”

She felt sad, cheated and angry about not having the opportunity to learn Māori. She missed out on going to the marae, knowing other members of the hapū and learning her pepeha.

“Sometimes I felt angry towards pākehā and the Crown for a language stolen from me by an institution created by colonisation.”

Perkins has continued to learn te reo over the years, but still isn't fluent, a struggle many Māori face.

When her mother went to school, children were strapped for speaking Māori.

Some of her family took pākehā names as not to offend pākehā or because they couldn't pronounce Māori names.

Putaka said the education pathway for te reo Māori in Foxton was decimated through the closure of kōhanga reo kindergartens and a school te reo Māori unit in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

In recent years, work has been done to rekindle the language and ensure te reo survived through people and culture. A Māori immersion early childhood centre opened in Foxton in 2013.

“We need to nurture our children.”

Tribunal member Monty Soutar said a lot of Māori were worried about going to their marae because there was an expectation of speaking te reo.

Te Ariki Te Puni, also of Ngāti Rakau, gave evidence about how the urban drift of people moving from rural areas to major centres in the 20th century had a negative effect on Māori in the area.

He said colonisation and urban drift led to stolen identity, stolen land and a disconnection with whakapapa.

For his ancestors, life on the land was bountiful and before 1840, Māori collectivism was strong, but after the Treaty of Waitangi was signed, Māori rights were extinguished and replaced by individualism.

He said there was a lack of housing in the area, people had to move to main centres and some Māori joined gangs.

“Urbanisation left us with only a few whānau to keep the home fires burning. Opportunities for development were removed when so many whanau left.

“It is not something that has happened in the past. The effects have been passed down by generations and experienced by hapū today.”