Te Wiki o te Reo Māori

Kereama Carmody, Master Plumbers/Masterlink's Wellbeing Coach shares his blog on Maori Language Week.

Nau mai haere mai ke te reo o te wiki - welcome everyone to Maori language week. A quick history lesson. Around the early 1860’s Europeans had become the majority of the population and the English language became the prominant language of New Zealand. This period is often associated with the Māori Language Suppression Act of 1867. In a nutshell, it was aimed at assimilating Maori into European culture by suppressing their language and cultural practices.

This led to the decline of the language across all of Maori society and this continued right up to the 1970s. With the birth of the civil rights movement in the United States, there was a global movement with many indigenous cultures following the lead and rising to the cause .... the rest is history.

As a nation, we are on track with restoring the Maori language to it's rightful place in New Zealand culture. I get many grandads and grandma's commenting, "I wish I could understand what the grandkids are saying when they speak Maori". Learning the Maori language at school was never a possibility for me and my generation.

Our world is always changing and gender, diversity, and inclusion have come to the forefront of a new movement towards social equity. Different people have different views on the extent and methods by which diversity and inclusion should be promoted and it's pleasing to see that many more organisations are reaching out to become more bi-culturally aware. Master Plumbers has taken great steps in this direction and are one of several organisations leading the way toward a diverse and inclusive workforce.

Mā to kimi ka kite,
Mā te kite mōhio
Mā te mōhio ka mārama

Seek at discover, discover, and know
Know and become enlightened