Whiti Te Rā

Date: 2017

Run in partnership with Mahi Tahi Akoranga, Whiti Te Rā was a multi-day hui held in Rotorua which brought together justice advocates, experts, whānau and people with lived experience. 

The hui was organised in recognition of the increasingly urgent and growing problem of the failure to address the disproportionate incarceration of Māori in New Zealand. Facilitated by Haimona Waititi and Kiri Allen it included a variety of speakers including Tā Kim Workman and Annette Sykes and discussions on topics such as: 

• What is kaupapa Māori in the criminal justice system?

• What is the prison industrial complex?

• Transforming Māori narratives of historical and intergenerational trauma

• Supporting rangatahi with a parent in prison

• How services can support whanau collaboratively rather than in isolation

• Drug policy law reform

Attendees came from many different sectors and backgrounds and included lawyers, academics, advocates, ex-prisoners, community leaders and government officials. The conference enabled conversations between people who might not normally meet, with the intention that such conversations and relationships will be the catalyst for much more.

The outcome of this hui included the formation of a justice working group, and led to the Safe and Effective Justice Summit held by the Ministry of Justice in 2018.