New Zealand Law Society - Te Hunga Rōia Māori plans for Zui-ā-Tau 2020

Te Hunga Rōia Māori plans for Zui-ā-Tau 2020

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Ko te pae tawhiti, whāia kia tata. Ko te pae tata, whakamaua kia tīna

Seek out distant horizons and cherish those you attain [1]

The Hui-ā-Tau (annual conference) is considered the highlight of the year for Te Hunga Rōia Māori o Aotearoa - the Māori Law Society. Check out last year’s event here.

Planning for Hui-ā-Tau 2020 has been in progress for the past nine months. However, with the impact of COVID-19, the Hunga needed to put safety concerns at the forefront and made the hard call in April to postponed the ā-kanohi Hui (in person conference) until next year.

“Hui-ā-Tau is an important event for our membership. Every year it’s an amazing experience to come together as a group to discuss the legal issues that affect Māori,” says Glenn Tootill, Tumuaki Tāne. “We now have to find other ways of bringing our Hunga together.”

Te Hunga Rōia Māori Executive is currently developing plans for a new and innovative way to meet and connect.

“Zui (zoom hui) seems to be the norm these days so we’ve pitched to our members the idea of a Zui-ā-Tau 2020 instead. It’s going to be a little different but it’s also going to open doors to new ways of connecting,” said Marcia Murray, Tumuaki Wahine. “We are able to reach out to a bigger audience via a new platform, providing the opportunity to hear the key legal issues impacting Māori at this time.”

A big part of Hui-ā-Tau is the whakawhanaungatanga (connectedness) between attendees. “We may not be able to come together on a national scale but wouldn’t it be amazing if we had Hui-ā-rohe (regional gatherings) which ran in conjunction with Zui-ā-Tau 2020,” said Ms Murray. “This opens up an incredible opportunity for our local leaders to bring our people together in a way that bests suits them. I’m looking forward to exploring some ideas with our regional representatives and supporting them to make it happen.”

Te Hunga Rōia Māori has been working to represent and support Māori in the legal profession for more than 31 years. The kaupapa (vision) is Mā te Ture, Mō te Iwi – By the Law, For the People.

Since then the organisation has grown enormously and membership includes legal practitioners, judges, parliamentarians, legal academics, policy analysts, researchers and Māori law students. Their mahi includes raising awareness of Te Ao Māori and tikanga in the legal profession, promoting law reform and conducting research on issues of relevance to their members and Te Ao Māori.

Zui-ā-Tau 2020 is planned for late August 2020. More details about the event and how to register will be available soon via the Te Hunga Rōia Māori website here

[1] The source of both the pēpeha and translation was Rangi Mete-kingi of Whanganui descent.

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