PhilApr 3
As a member of a Dunedin high school Board of Trustees, our staff spent a teachers--only day yesterday at Ōtākou Marae, mainly in the spirit of whakawhanaungatanga, but also deepening staff understanding of te ao Māori, our shared history and life on the Otago Peninsula.
Show threadPhilApr 3
Over the course of the day, we held workshops on Mau Rākau, toi Māori, tikanga and more.
One of the key discussions was reflecting on how we could lift attendance for Māori and Pasiifika akonga. There were many ideas, but fundamentally teachers agreed those kids want connection.
Show threadPhil
Not connection with school or teachers or, hell, even learning necessarily. They need connection with themselves. They need to see a place for themselves, connect to strong support systems and connect to pathways to larger community and family places that reflect a Māori identity and history.
Apr 3 at 9:57amWeb
Show threadPhilApr 3
What do we see instead? A government committed to control, isolation, narrow conformity and homogeneity. That means what we teach, what we test and who we include and represent in that pedagogy. Erica Stanford asserting it's the government's job to give effect to te tiriti is pure smokescreen.
Show threadPhilApr 3
Taking everything that makes up te ao Māori and discarding, sidelining and criminalising it, then bemoaning school attendance rates is stupid, cynical, cruel and recolonising. It disenfranchises a whole generation all over again.
Show threadPhilApr 3

Let's talk about the NZ history curriculum. Who reading this post knows about the Tohunga Suppression Act 1907? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tohunga_Suppression_Act_1907

No? Not too surprised. The NZ government made it illegal to practice Māori customs and healthcare, but the impact was much, much bigger.

Tohunga Suppression Act 1907 - Wikipedia

Show threadPhilApr 3
The effect at the time was to create generations of indigenous identity, knowledge, language, belonging and heritage to be lost. Some permanently; some still being gradually recovered.
And this government is ignoring those lessons and trying its hardest to do it all over again 100 years later.
Show threadPhilApr 3

This government is creating unnecessary damage, hurt, marginalisatiion and loss and the entire nation will be the poorer for it if it succeeds.

#OneTermGovernment

Show threadKay   Apr 3

@paw Well yes I did know about the Tohunga Suppression Act 1907 which was a direct breach of Article 4 of Te Tiriti o Waitangi (Oral assurance respecting all faiths and freedom to continue in their observance).

It's echoed by the Statement on Religious Diversity, now onto its 3rd edition.

"At the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, Governor Hobson affirmed, in response to a question from Roman Catholic Bishop Pompallier, that “the several faiths (beliefs) of England, of the
Wesleyans, of Rome, and also Māori custom shall alike be protected”.
This historic affirmation is the foundational basis for acknowledging the diversity of beliefs in New Zealand."
https://tikatangata.org.nz/news/statement-on-religious-diversity-launched

Subsequent to signing of Te Tiriti but after 1907, the NZ Government signed up to international treaties affirming human and civil rights including right to follow faith beliefs.

I don't know if an apology has been given for the Tohunga Suppression Act, if not there should be one.

The Act is mentioned in context by Hon. Pita Sharples but no reference to an apology by 2011.
https://www.beehive.govt.nz/speech/sharing-power-indigenous-thought

Statement on Religious Diversity launched

Show threadPhilApr 3
@Kay Yeah I don't think there's ever been one (but I'm also unsure here). I wonder if it's because the government knows the next cab off the rank is reparation and I also wonder if that's why Act and NZ First are chomping at the bit to dismantle the Waitangi Tribunal.
Show threadKay   Apr 3
@paw I wasn't taught about the Tohunga Suppression Act at school. It was only later through discussions at interfaith gatherings and conferences, and in researching Waitangi Tribunal decisions that I came across the stories of suppression, and what they meant. Very much like learning about Parihaka and the founding of the Ratana Church, which both included prophets and spirituality being trampled by colonists.
Show threadPhilApr 3
@Kay History, in this case, is very much written by the victors.