Māori language ‘at risk’ due to government policies, says commissioner
The Māori language commissioner of New Zealand has said that government policies which limit the use of the indigenous language, known as te reo, within public services were “a risk” to the decades-long efforts to revive it.
“Any affront to the efforts that we have been making has to be taken seriously,” the commissioner, Prof Rawinia Higgins, told the Guardian. “We’re seeing a reaction – only from a small corner of people, but enough that we don’t want that to snowball.”
This year, Māori language week, held in September has come during a period of difficult relations between Māori and the ruling government. These are due to government policies which include measures that Māori leaders have said would relegate the language to a lower status.
Since taking power last December, a number of government ministers have ordered their departments to stop using Māori names. Other ministries have asked their staff to stop using the language in briefing papers, making communications primarily in English. Others have also stopped funding language courses for staff.
One of the coalition partners of the government, NZ First, also plans to introduce a bill which would make English an official language. This is despite the fact that it is already the country’s main language.
New Zealand’s prime minster Christopher Luxon has insisted that he is a supporter of te reo, having been taking taxpayer-funded lessons.
“In New Zealand we’re lucky to have this language and I’m glad to celebrate it,” he wrote in a Facebook post. The PM has insisted that his government’s policies were about making public services easier to understand.
However, Higgins has warned that policies were sending a worrying message about the language’s status in society.
“A lot of those policies are not predicated on a language revitalisation strategy. Giving it prominence, it signals status,” she said. “It’s not a threat to English by any sense of the imagination. It says, ‘OK, my language is seen as important. We’ve brought the language back from the brink. Despite whatever affronts there may be, we’ve got to continue.”
