"The knowledge of wayfinding and waka building was almost lost as a living practice, destined to survive only in historical journals and museums. Luckily for us, a small group took up the battle to keep them alive." — Simone Kaho.
"Billy Harrison isn’t just carrying the mana of the Aotearoa team in this symposium. He’s the future of waka building in Aotearoa. If tārai waka is to survive here, it will need more like Billy and his teammates." — Simone Kaho.
The Hawaiians are considered the best technical experts in canoe building: “They make creatures of perfection," says James Eruera.
“I can look at the wood and see parts of the canoe. The shape. Like a vision in my head.” — Freddie Tauotaha, Tahitian master waka builder, who came to Aotearoa to finish the va'a his father started 27 years before.
“Everything I say in the courtroom now is said in te reo Māori. All of my submissions, every written document.” — Alana Thomas.
“I lived and worked in 30 countries, going around and around the planet trying to find out where I belonged. And, hey, the answer was right back where I started, where I am now in Te Puna.” — Tommy Wilson.
“You know, anyone’s success belongs to a whole island of people. That’s one thing that Mum taught us. Never forget that your success is dependent on every person connected to you — and who’s helped you.” — Leatuao Larry Tua’i-Lavea.
“I grew up as a young Sāmoan kid watching rugby, and Bryan Williams was my idol. . . . So there we had the first Sāmoan All Black who was also a lawyer, and I thought: ‘Man! That is really something.’” — Judge Mike Mika.
“Our players are being asked to carry water for a brand that is desecrating our environment.” — Juressa Lee, a Greenpeace campaigner, on NZ Rugby’s six-year sponsorship deal with INEOS.
“It’s been a whole year since we went through this, and yet, here we are again, with mainstream media ignoring, or perhaps not even seeing, the very real damage done by this type of clickbait heading.” — Emmaline Pickering-Martin.
“Indonesia is as brutal in its tactics as all colonisers.” — Catherine Delahunty on West Papua’s fight for independence.
“What if Ngāi Tahu had been allowed the reserve, and New Zealand’s walking culture had developed with Māori still owning the land? What kind of hybrid traditions might have emerged if Kemp’s Deed had been honoured, the mahika kai preserved?” — Nic Low.
“As a teacher, I’d been invited to major life milestones of former students, like 21st birthdays and graduations. But never this.” — Dahlia Malaeulu.
“We have to make a noise about the bullshit, the bigotry, the terminally foolish, the wilfully ignorant. The dangerous.” — Tainui Stephens.
“I have every faith in my whānau Māori to make safe decisions that protect our whakapapa. But, as a country responsible for this vaccine rollout, we’ve got to do better.” — Chloe Fergusson-Tibble.
"The Crown reckoned full redress was worth around $12 to $15 billion. Our advisers thought it was closer to $20 billion. We settled for $170 million — a lot less, but it allowed Ngāi Tahu to move forward, to rebuild." — Mark Solomon.
“That bridge tragedy in 1947 severed my links to my taha Māori. And only now, in my early 40s, am I reclaiming what was lost.” — Cornell Tukiri.
“It’s only in recent years that I’ve even plucked up the courage to claim my identity, to proudly say: Yes, I am Māori.” — Siena Yates.
"We don’t just want to see our life experiences. We want change so we can fully experience our lives." — Cole Meyers, writer and producer of 'Rūrangi'.
“It’s funny to think that it took moving across the moana and immersing myself in another Pacific culture to gain an appreciation of my own.” — Terina Kaire.
“In the digital age, it’s naïve to think that we can control the use and growth of te reo — which I believe is a positive thing. The language is flourishing, and I, for one, embrace the change with gay abandon.” — Anton Blank.
“At the age of five, I was already consciously distancing myself from the Māori world. I already knew that to be Māori was to be less than. The same way that my son knows that pink is not an acceptable colour for boys to like.” — Moata Tamaira.
“There is an indigenous spirit in Ōtaki that is unapologetic and proud. By definition that spirit is also loving.” — Tainui Stephens.
“I can’t watch the show without cringing at the risque subject matter. Auē. But if they made the show based on my sensibilities, there would be ZERO rangatahi watching it.” — Quinton Hita on the bilingual drama series Ahikāroa.
"Sometimes I think we have too big an expectation of the reo Māori sector. Yes, broadcasting is part of the reo revitalisation plan. But it’s not the only mechanism." — Bailey Mackey.
“There are unhealthy consequences for our society if the mainstream media doesn’t become much more accomplished at looking beyond Pākehā interests.” — Gary Wilson.
“English is the language that reaches all the politicians and the voters, including the journalists and teachers and lawyers and doctors and nurses and academics and business leaders and all the others who play a part in shaping our society.”
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In celebration of National Poetry Day this Friday, here's a poem from Tusiata Avia, Arts Foundation laureate and winner of the poetry award at this year's NZ book awards.
“Sometimes we need to challenge the status quo and put forward our ideas so that we can shift the ground.” — Nigel Borell.
“He looked more Pākeha than any Pākehā I knew . . . But his was a life deeply immersed in te ao Māori. He was one of the best taonga puoro players in the world. A leading force behind their revival.” — Moana Maniapoto on Richard Nunns.
“A man stood up and said: ‘I thought this was the group to come to when you want to be racist.’ And then he left. I’m still hoping that was part of the show.” — Emmaline Pickering-Martin on 'Racists Anonymous'.
“The same system which processed the land theft has adapted to prevent its return. Apologies and cash compensation keep the issue of land safely dormant — like a sleeping baby strapped to the back of a new parent.” — Connie Buchanan.
“My parents' dream of a better life collided with the cultural ignorance of mainstream New Zealand in the 1950s onwards.” — Fa'amoana Luafutu, who told his story of institutional abuse to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care.
“In the multiple chapters of Pacific peoples’ story in New Zealand, the chapter of the Dawn Raids stands out as one that continues to cast a long shadow.” — Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's speech in full.
"For many Pākehā, me included, our time here began on land that had been stolen (sorry, 'confiscated') from the people to whom it belonged." — Professor Richard Shaw.
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