I te tau 1987, i whakaturehia te reo Māori hei reo mana mō Aotearoa e te Ture mō te reo Māori me te ahei o ētahi tāngata ki te kōrero i te reo Māori i ngā kōkiritanga o te ture. Taka rawa mai ki te tau 2016, ka whakakorengia taua ture, kātahi ka whakakapingia tana tūranga e te Ture mō Te Reo Māori hou. Ko ngā hua o tēnei ture nei, ka pūmau tōnu te reo Māori ki tōna taumata hei reo mana mō Aotearoa, āpiti atu, i whakaūngia te reo Māori hei taonga mō te iwi Māori, he reo e kaingākautia ana e te motu whānui, ko te reo taketake ake o Aotearoa, ka mutu, he reo whakahirahira te reo Māori i te ahurea whānui o te motu. Toru tekau mā toru ngā tau ināianei mai i te whakaturetanga o te reo Māori hei reo mana o Aotearoa me te ahei ki te kōrero i te reo Māori i ngā Kōti, e uia tonu ana te pātai nui, āe rānei, nā ēnei whakaturetanga tō tātou reo Māori i whakaora i te pūnaha ture o Aotearoa?

E aro atu ana tēnei ātikara ki ngā whakaūnga a te Kāwanatanga e rārangihia ana i te Ture mō te reo Māori me te whakaaro mēnā e ngākau pono ana te Kāwanatanga ki aua whakaūnga me ā rātou here, ā rātou kawenga anō hoki i roto i Te Tiriti o Waitangi, me kōkiri tika atu te pūnaha ture o Aotearoa hei pūnaha ture kākano rua.

He aha tēnei mea te pūnaha ture kākano rua?

I te mutunga iho, ka whānau mai ai te pūnaha ture kākano rua i te whakaaro he ōrite te mana o ngā reo e rua. Ko aua reo rā ngā waka e kawea nei ngā whakaritenga katoa, wai hoki e haere ngātahi ana i te pūnaha ture. Tae atu ki te āheinga kia kōrerohia te reo Māori i ngā kōkiritanga o te ture, anei e whai ake nei ētahi atu o ōna āhuatanga:

• ka tuhia, ka tāia hoki ngā Ture o te Paremata, ngā Pire, ngā Tohutohu me ngā Whakaritenga katoa i ngā reo e rua, he ōrite hoki te mana o tētahi whakaputanga ki tētahi whakaputanga, ka mutu, ka hangaia rāua tahi hei hoa haere, ehara tētahi i te whakawhitinga reo o tētahi atu;
• Ka tuhia, ka tāia hoki ngā Whakawākanga Kōti, ngā Whakataunga me ngā kupu tohutohu a te Kōti katoa i ngā reo e rua;
• Ka tuhia, ka tāia hoki ngā puka whakarite me ngā puka tauira katoa i ngā reo e rua; ā
• He kawenga kia reo rua ngā mema o te Rōpū Tiati.

E whai huruhuru ai ēnei mātāpono, me whakatū ētahi tukanga matua ki te pūtake, ki te puku anō hoki o te pūnaha ture. Kei te whenua o Kānata ētahi o ngā tauira, kei ā rātou ētahi Kōmiti Tohutohu e tirotiro ana mēnā rānei e whakaū ana ngā kaiwhakairo ture ki ngā reo e rua, wai hoki, e whakamahia ana, e whakatairangahia ana ngā reo e rua i ngā ture katoa, i ngā whakataunga a te Kōti katoa, i ngā whakawākanga anō hoki.

Nō reira, ki te kore e whai mana ōrite ngā reo e rua, ki te kore rāua e whai hāpaitanga ōrite, ki te kore rāua e whai rauemi ōrite, ki tā ngā kaimahi ture titiro, ki tā te iwi whānui titiro, e kore rawa tētahi pūnaha ture kākano rua e ora tūturu mai. A kāti me hoki āno tātou ki Aotearoa, ki te Ture mō Te Reo Māori. Nā taua ture anō, kua takoto ngā whakaūnga a te Kāwanatanga kia noho hirahira te reo Māori ki Aotearoa, ko te pātai ināianei, e noho hirahira ana te reo Māori ki tā tātou pūnaha ture?

Kua wāhi kākano rua tātou i tā tātou pūnaha ture?

Ahakoa i te wā o te whakairotanga o Te Ture mō te Reo Māori e turuāpohia ana ka whai mana ōrite te reo Māori ki te reo Ingarihi, ka toko ake te pātai, kua tutuki rā āno tātou i tēnā whāinga i roto i ngā whakahaerenga o te pūnaha ture? Kua tuhia, kua tāia te nuinga o ā tātou ture i te reo Ingarihi anahe, kua tuhia, kua tāia te nuinga o ngā Whakawākanga Kōti i te reo Ingarihi anahe, kua tukuna te nuinga o ngā puka tono me ngā puka tauira a te Kōti i te reo Ingarihi anahe; ka mutu, ko te nuinga o ngā Tiati o Aotearoa, kāhore ōna reo Māori nō reira mārakerake ana te kitea, kotahi nahe te whakautu, kāhore, tino kore nei. Wai hoki, he tino roa te huarahi kei mua i a tātou kia tutuki ai i taua whāinga. Ae, kei reira te Ture mō te Reo Māori e whakaū ana i te āheinga ki te tuku i te reo Māori i ngā kōkiritanga o te ture, engari kei reira hoki ngā hātepe, ngā kaupapa here me ngā tikanga a te Kāwanatanga e tāhere tonu nei i te Māori, ka ngū nei tōna arero tūpuna.

Ahakoa he kōrero Māori, kāhore i ārikarika ngā tāngata e noho mū tonu ana, e horokūkū ana ki te tuku i te reo Māori i tā tātou pūnaha ture. Ki te hiahia te tangata ki te whai i te reo Māori i tōna Kōtitanga, i wāna nei hoki, ko te manatika o tāna take te papa. Inā hoki ehara te Tiati e whakawā ana i tana Kōtitanga i te kōrero Māori, ehara tana rōia e whakakanohi ana i tana take i te kōrero Māori, kua tuhia te nuinga o ngā ture i te reo Ingarihi anahe, ka mutu he uaua, he roa rawa te hātepe ka mate te tangata ki te whai mēnā ka hiahia ia ki te kōrero Māori. He māmā ake pea māna ki te noho tonu ki te reo matua ka kitea e ia, arā ko te reo Ingarihi. E tika ana te rīpoata Wai 262 a Te Taraipiunara o Waitangi, Ko Aotearoa Tēnei:

“The Maori language Act as currently drafted does place obligations on courts and tribunals to facilitate the use of Māori in proceedings (section 4). The problem is there are practical barriers to exercising this right. Notice must be given, interpreters organised; indeed, to all intents and purposes, the use of Māori in proceedings operates on the same footing as the use of foreign languages. That is, the right is available but there are significant issues of practicability and convenience. since most speakers of Māori can also speak English, the incentives to use the dominant language in proceedings will generally outweigh personal preference. Even in the Māori land Court, where the parties are almost exclusively Māori, and te reo Māori is used often, there is no full-time infrastructure for simultaneous translation. If te reo Māori is not normalised even in this jurisdiction, we can only reflect on the scale of the impediments to its free use elsewhere”.[1]

E whakaatu atu ana tēnei i tētahi pūnaha ture e horokūkū ana ki te huri hei pūnaha ture kākano rua, ka mutu, e whakatairangahia ana te reo Ingarihi hei reo matua, i taua wā tonu, ka noho te reo Māori hei teina māna. Ko te reo Māori, he reo e whakataki noa iho ana i te kaupapa matua, he reo e hāpaitia ana e te tokoiti nahenahe i te ao o te ture.

Toru tekau mā toru ngā tau ināianei mai i te whakairotanga o te Ture mō te Reo Māori 1987, engari whā noa iho ngā ture kua tuhia i te reo Ingarihi me te reo Māori, arā ko Te Ture mō Mokomoko (Hei Whakahoki i te Ihi, te Mana, me te Rangatiratanga) i te tau 2013, Te Ture mō te Reo Māori i te tau 2016, Te Ture kia Unuhia te Hara kai Runga i a Rua Kēnana i te tau 2019 me Te Ture Haeata ki Parihaka i te tau 2019. E tika ana kia mihia te whakaaro me reo rua ēnei ture ka mutu, he hirahira ake nei ēnei ture ki te iwi Māori whānui, engari e ai kī te kaituhi nei, he uaua kia kitea te aronga ā-ture i puta ake i te 3 o te 4 o aua ture i te mea ko te kiko o aua ture, ko ngā whakapāhatanga a te Karauna, ngā unu hara me ngā oatitanga a te Karauna ki tēnā iwi, ki tēnā hapū, ki tēnā whānau. Ko tā te kaituhi e taukumekume nei, ko te Ture mō te Reo Māori anahe tērā e tipatapata tonu nei, e waihotia ana āna tapuwae ki te papa o te ture.

I tēnei wā, e whakapūmautia ana e te nuinga o ngā Kōti puta noa i te motu ngā kupu Māori me ētahi whakatakotoranga Māori i ngā whārangi taupoki mō ngā Whakawākanga, wai hoki, i ētahi wā, ka kitea ngā pou kupu Māori ki te puku o ngā Whakawākanga. Engari, kāhore ā tātou tikanga e tohutohu ana me tuhi, me whakaputa anō hoki ēnei whakataunga i te reo Ingarihi me te reo Māori, ahakoa i ētahi wā, ka kōrero katoa ngā kaiwhakaatu i te reo Māori, he Māori te hunga whakaae me te hunga whakahē, wai hoki, ka hāngai te take o te Kōtitanga ki tētahi Kaupapa Māori.

Hei tāpiri atu, mai i te 237 o ngā Tiati e noho ana i ngā Kōti katoa puta noa i Aotearoa, i kī rā rātou, he Pākehā te 93% o aua Tiati, 10.8% o aua 237 he whakapapa Māori ōna. Kāhore anō tātou kia whiwhi i ngā tātauranga mō te hunga kōrero Māori, engari e whakapae ana te kaituhi nei kāhore e kore, he tokoiti te ōrau e kōrero Māori ana, ko te reo Pākehā te reo o te nuinga.

Kāhore te kaituhi e tumanako ana kia huri tā tātou pūnaha ture hei kākano rua i tētahi pō nahenahe, heoi i te 33 ngā tau i taha ake, kua pahawa i a tātou te aha? E tāpae ana te kaituhi nei, kua noho taharangi, kua hūkore te ao ture ki te whakakanohi, tika nei, i te taha Māori.

Nō reira, me aha tātou i Aotearoa?

Mēnā e ngākau pono ana te Kāwanatanga ki te whakaaro kia noho tahi rātou me te iwi Māori i runga anō i ngā kī taurangi, ngā kawenga me ngā mātāpono i puta ake i te hainatanga o te Tiriti o Waitangi, me kotahi atu rātou ki tētahi pūnaha ture kākano reo kia tutuki ai i taua whāinga. I te tau 2010, i wāhi tuku ai te Taraipiunara o Wai 262 i ō rātou whakaaro mō te tūranga o te Kāwanatanga i tēnei huringa tai, anei āna korero:

“On the Crown’s part, there needs to be a mind-shift away from the pervasive assumption that the Crown is Pākehā, english-speaking and distinct from Māori. More than ever the Crown now presents a Māori face to the nation and the world – in international relations, trade facilitation, diplomacy, peacekeeping. New Zealanders are following suit in the sporting arena and elsewhere. The fact that, as a young country, we have two founding cultures is one of our competitive advantages on the world stage, and we should use this to maximum effect. The Crown must lead by example: we cannot build our national identify on a superficial co-option of Māori culture.”[2]

Ki te hiahia te Kāwanatanga kia whakatinanahia ngā pūmanawa o te kaitātaki, me whakaae rātou kia tuhi, kia whakaputa ngā ture katoa a te Paremata i te reo Ingarihi me te reo Māori. I tēnei wā, kāhore he tūranga tō te reo Māori i te hātepe whakairo ture o ia rā, o ia rā. Ahakoa raini e hāngai pū ana te ture ki ngā take Māori, ko te aronga nui o te pūnaha ture kākano rua kia hāpaitia ngā reo e rua hei reo mana, hei reo ōrite.  E kore rawa tēnei mana ōrite mō nga reo e rua e tutuki ki te noho mātāmua tonu te reo Ingarihi ki ngā ture o Aotearoa, ka mutu ki ngā hirikapo o ōna kaiwhakairo. Ko ngā ture te tūāpapa o tō tātou whare ture.

Nā konā, ka kotahi atu ki ōna poupou, ki te hunga e whakaora mai ēnei ture i ngā whakaritenga katoa o te ao ture, ko ō tātou Tiati tēnā, ko ō tātou rōia anō hoki. I te mutunga iho, ka mate tā tātou pūnaha ture ki te kopou i ngā Tiati kōrero Māori, irakati. Atu i tēnā, me whakawhānui ake te hunga rōia kōrero Māori me ngā kaimahi o te Kōti kia pakari ai te haere o tētahi pūnaha ture kākano rua kia eke panuku, kia eke tangaroa me kore noa e rere māori nei tō tātou reo ki ngā toronga katoa o te ao ture.

Heoi, ko te anamata pea tēnā. Ka aha tātou ināianei? I tēnei rā tonu? E whakapono ana te kaituhi nei, me titiro tātou ki ngā heke o tō tātou whare ture, ki ngā whare wānanga, ki ngā karaehe whakapakari mātauranga ka whakaritea e Te Kāhui Ture o Aotearoa e whāngai ana i ngā akoranga ture ki ngā rōia, ki ngā Tiati o āpōpō. Ko tā te kaituhi e kī nei, me whakatau tātou i te tikanga me mātua ako ngā tāngata katoa e hiahia ana ki te tū hei rōia i Aotearoa, i ngā akoranga ture kākano rua.

Hei whakakapi ake i konei, kāhore tātou i te rite kia huri hei pūnaha ture kākano rua, ka mutu, he roa pea te huarahi kei mua i a tātou ki te tae ki reira. E tika ana, ara noa atu ngā ārai me ngā taiapa ka mate tātou ki te kake: tae atu ki te hunga tokoiti e taea ana te whakapakari te taha Māori i te ao ture, te mahi uaua kia whakamāorihia ngā tikanga o te ture tuku iho, te tika me te tino hāngai o te mahi whakairo ture, wai hoki, ko te manakohanga o te iwi whānui kia noho ōrite te mana o te reo Māori ki te mana o te reo Ingarihi, heoi ehara ēnei i te raru ki tai. E taea ana e tātou. E mea ana te Kāwanatanga i te Ture mō te Reo Māori, he hirahira te reo Māori ki a Aotearoa, he hirahira noki ki te ao ture. Nō reira, me timata tō tātou tautiaki i a ia. Ki te tautiaki tātou i te reo Māori mai i te tūāpapa o te whare ture, ki ōna poupou, ki ōna heke, kāhore e kore ka tū tika tō tātou whare ture hei whare kākano rua mā ngā iwi katoa o Aotearoa.

Ngā kupu āpiti

[1] Ko Aotearoa Tēnei (Wai 262, 2011) page 169.

[2] Ko Aotearoa Tēnei (Wai 262, 2011) page 171.

A bilingual legal system?

In 1987, the Māori Language Act was enacted. It declared te reo Māori to be an official language of New Zealand and conferred on certain persons the right to speak te reo Māori in legal proceedings. In 2016, this Act was repealed and replaced with Te Ture mō Te Reo Māori which, amongst other matters, affirmed the status of te reo Māori as an official language of New Zealand and additionally, confirmed that te reo Māori was a taonga of iwi and Māori, a language valued by the nation, the indigenous language of New Zealand and important to the identity of New Zealand. It has now been 33 years since te reo Māori become an official language and the right to speak te reo Māori in legal proceedings was conferred. What has that meant for New Zealand’s legal system?

This article focusses on Parliament's affirmations contained in Te Ture mō Te Reo Māori and explores the idea that if the Crown were genuine in making these affirmations, and in upholding their duties and obligations under Te Tiriti o Waitangi, the New Zealand legal system should be making proactive and positive moves to becoming a bilingual legal system.

What is a bilingual legal system?

Ultimately, a bilingual legal system is premised on the principle of equality of both languages, wherein the administration of justice is carried out in both official languages. Together with the right to speak these languages in legal proceedings, a bilingual legal system would include (but not be limited to):

• All Acts of Parliament, Bills, Rules and Regulations written and published in both languages, where both versions are equally authoritative and are co-drafted or written in parallel, rather than one document being a translation of the other;
• Court judgments, decisions and directions written and published in both languages;
• All administrative legal forms and templates written and published in both languages; and
• A duty to ensure that members of the judiciary understand both official languages.

In order to implement these measures, fundamental processes must be established within the operation of the legal system itself. For example in Canada, there are Advisory Committees that are tasked solely with ensuring that both languages play a key role in the drafting process of legislation and that both languages are used and promoted within all legislation, Court decisions, judgments and like matters.

Therefore, a true bilingual legal system cannot exist if both languages do not have equal status, equal promotion, equal resourcing and equal visibility to those operating within the legal system and perhaps more importantly, to members of the public. So given the affirmations contained in Te Ture mō Te Reo Māori and the importance te reo Māori supposedly has in New Zealand, how does our legal system stack up?

How bilingual is New Zealand’s legal system?

While equal status for te reo Māori was envisaged during the drafting of Te Ture mō Te Reo Māori[1], can we say that we have achieved this within the administration of our legal system? Given the majority of our legislation is written and published only in English, the majority of Court judgments are written and published only in English, the majority of template court applications and forms are provided only in English; and an overwhelming majority of members of the judiciary do not speak te reo Māori, the answer can only be no. And we have a long way to go. Yes, the Māori Language Act has provided the right to speak te reo Māori in legal proceedings but the barriers to do so, still exist.

It is difficult for someone who wishes to exercise their right to speak te reo Māori, to also access justice within our legal system when the majority of judges they appear in front of do not speak te reo Māori, the majority of lawyers that represent their interests do not speak te reo Māori, the laws that govern the legal proceedings are written only in English and the process to logistically speak te reo Māori is, by and large, lengthy and cumbersome. This was noted by the Waitangi Tribunal in its Wai 262 report, Ko Aotearoa Tēnei:

“The Maori language Act as currently drafted does place obligations on courts and tribunals to facilitate the use of Māori in proceedings (section 4). The problem is there are practical barriers to exercising this right. Notice must be given, interpreters organised; indeed, to all intents and purposes, the use of Māori in proceedings operates on the same footing as the use of foreign languages. That is, the right is available but there are significant issues of practicability and convenience. since most speakers of Māori can also speak English, the incentives to use the dominant language in proceedings will generally outweigh personal preference. Even in the Māori land Court, where the parties are almost exclusively Māori, and te reo Māori is used often, there is no full-time infrastructure for simultaneous translation. If te reo Māori is not normalised even in this jurisdiction, we can only reflect on the scale of the impediments to its free use elsewhere”.[2]

This paints a picture not of a bilingual legal system, but a system that is entrenched in the use of only one of its official languages while the other is relegated to simple introductory greetings or a very few handful of practitioners and judicial members that have the skills to progress matters in te reo Māori.

Since the enactment of the Māori Language Act in 1987, 33 years ago, only four pieces of legislation have been drafted in both English and te reo Māori. Te Ture mō Mokomoko (Hei Whakahoki i te Ihi, te Mana, me te Rangatiratanga) in 2013, Te Ture mo te Reo Māori in 2016, Te Ture kia Unuhia te Hara kai Runga i a Rua Kēnana in 2019 and Te Ture Haeata ki Parihaka in 2019. While the use of both English and te reo Māori in these Acts is commendable, three of these Acts, arguably, achieve no practical statutory purpose given they consist, by and large, of Crown apologies, pardons and promises to particular iwi, hapū or whānau. That leaves only the Māori Language Act 2016 itself as the only bilingual Act consistently used and referred to within the legal system.

While the majority of Courts have now adopted te reo Māori words and phrasing on cover pages of judgments and, in some cases, the use of te reo Māori as headings within the body of judgments, there is currently no requirement for these decisions to be written and produced in both English and te reo Māori, despite in some instances, the witnesses speaking te reo Māori throughout the progression of the case, the parties on both sides are Māori and the issue in dispute is a Māori issue.

Additionally, out of the 237 Judges currently sitting within the different Courts of New Zealand, 93% of Judges said they were of European ethnicity, with 10.8% saying they were of Māori ethnicity.[3] Of those Judges, it is unknown how many are proficient in te reo Māori but suffice to say, numbers would be minimal.

Of course, the writer does not expect our legal system to become bilingual overnight but in 33 years, what have we achieved? What is clear, is that we have not done enough. So, what do we need to do if we are to make positive steps towards a bilingual legal system?

What needs to occur in New Zealand?

If the Crown is genuine about creating a true partnership with Māori built on the guarantees, duties and principles that have emerged out of the signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, then a bilingual legal system is a necessary step to achieve that. The role the Government of the day needs to play in this change was emphasised in 2010 in the Waitangi Tribunal report Ko Aotearoa Tēnei, when the Tribunal Panel made the following comments:

“On the Crown’s part, there needs to be a mind-shift away from the pervasive assumption that the Crown is Pākehā, English-speaking and distinct from Māori. More than ever the Crown now presents a Māori face to the nation and the world – in international relations, trade facilitation, diplomacy, peacekeeping. New Zealanders are following suit in the sporting arena and elsewhere. The fact that, as a young country, we have two founding cultures is one of our competitive advantages on the world stage, and we should use this to maximum effect. The Crown must lead by example: we cannot build our national identify on a superficial co-option of Māori culture.”[4]

What better way to show leadership than by writing and publishing all Acts enacted by Parliament in both English and te reo Māori? As mentioned above, currently, te reo Māori plays no actual role in the process of the day to day drafting of legislation. Whether it is a “Māori issues” piece of legislation or not, the purpose of a bilingual legal system is to promote the equality of both official languages. Equal status cannot happen while there is a monopoly of English in New Zealand legislation.

The natural progression from legislation is then the human resources that implement these laws into the administration of justice. The bottom line is that we need more reo Māori speaking judges, more reo Māori speaking lawyers and more reo Māori speaking court staff to ensure a bilingual legal system can operate, be managed and ultimately succeed.

Changes can be made straightaway in the legal education we provide to those that are studying and practising law. Bilingual legal training at universities and within the professional development courses provided by our Law Society should, in the writer’s opinion, become pre-requisites for those seeking to practise law in New Zealand.

We are not yet ready to operate under a bilingual legal system and it will be many years before we get there. Yes, there will be many hurdles and barriers we will need to overcome: including the lack of human resources, the difficulty in expressing legal concepts, accuracy and precision in drafting and arguably the hardest obstacle, the acceptance itself of te reo Māori as having equal status in a bilingual legal system, but none of these challenges is unsurmountable. We can no longer ignore the significance and importance of te reo Māori in New Zealand and therefore the role it must play in our legal system.

Notes

[1] Hon Dr Pita Sharples during the second reading of the Bill.

[2] Ko Aotearoa Tēnei (Wai 262, 2011) page 169.

[3] https://www.lawsociety.org.nz/practice-resources/research-and-insight/practice-trends-and-statistics/new-zealands-judiciary-at-14-march-2019

[4] Ko Aotearoa Tēnei (Wai 262, 2011) page 171.

Author: Alana Thomas

View all posts by Alana Thomas