"But I have to say that the general message to my generation was that te reo Māori was a waste of time. And we were told that in Māori. That’s the funny thing. You’ll find most of my generation from Ngāti Porou have a listening comprehension of the language, but don’t speak Māori. That’s because we understood everything that was being said, but a lot of us were made to feel that we didn’t need to speak Māori. People would tell us: “He moumou taima te reo Māori, kāre koe e whiwhi mahi i te reo Māori.” It’s a waste of time speaking Māori; you’ll never get a job. Well, the irony is, here I am chief executive of the Māori Language Commission."
Te Tai Rāwhiti | Gisborne | Matakaoa-Waiapu | 2010-19 | Story is by tangata whenua
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