Ngāti Hine signs E Tu Whānau Charter of Commitment
Thu 23 Apr 2015
Ngāti Hine have taken a stand against violence by signing the E Tu Whānau Charter of Commitment on 14 March at the annual Te Ahureka o Ngāti ...
Ngāti Hine have taken a stand against violence by signing the E Tu Whānau Charter of Commitment on 14 March at the annual Te Ahureka o Ngāti Hine Festival at Otiria Marae, Moerewa.
The E Tu Whānau Charter of Commitment, launched in 2014, represents a public, formal and collective stand against violence using Māori cultural and spiritual strengths as the foundation for change. Ngāti Hine CEO Pita Tipene said the E Tu Whānau key principles align with the Te Ahuareka o Ngāti Hine kaupapa of upholding and uplifting tikanga, reo, beliefs and protocols.
Ngāti Hine Runanga Chair, Te Waihoroi Shortland, signed the commitment in front of the festival crowd speaking about what the commitment means in practice and the importance of eliminating violence. Many festival-goers also signed the commitment.
E Tu Whānau team member Rob Akuhata said the public declaration was significant. He said "This demonstration of support from Waihoroi Shortland was very powerful. It gave a strong message to whānau that we can't dance around this issue any more and that action and commitment is needed from us all. It highlighted, in a very visible way, the commitment that Ngati Hine leadership is investing in E Tu Whānau to support positive change in their communities."
Ngāti Hine, with support from the E Tu Whānau team, plan to visit every marae to speak about what the commitment means and how to activate the Charter. Rob Akuhata said "This follow-up will help to breathe life into the words of the Charter, and make sure that they are understood and acted upon in a way that makes sense to whānau."
The signing follows promotion of the Charter by five Ngāpuhi community groups at Waitangi where over 1000 people signed the Charter on Waitangi Day 2015. Northland E Tu Whānau relationship manager Shirleyanne Brown said "It's not a hard sell to our people. The messages resonate with them and whānau recognise the mana of those that front the messages."
Research
A University of Auckland PhD thesis, Mokopuna rising: intervention in whānau violence by Erana Cooper (2012) aimed to describe practices which assist whānau in the prevention or elimination of whānau violence. Participants included tribal representatives from the Ngāti Hine hapū.
Media
Men to play role in curbing violence, NZ Herald, 03.04.2015
Ngati Hine rebels with a new cause, The Northland Age, 19.03.2015
Image: Whariki by Jo Tito. Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Image: Jo Tito