I puta ēnei kupu i te waha o Tā Hemi Hēnare ki Te Taraipiunara o Waitangi i te tau 1985. I whakapāhongia atu anō i runga i a ‘Waka Huia’ i te tau 1988.
- These words were uttered by Sir James Henare to the Waitangi Tribunal in 1985 and were broadcast on ‘Waka Huia’ in 1988.

Ko te reo te mauri o te mana Māori Ko te kupu te mauri o te reo Māori E rua ēnei wehenga kōrero e hāngai tonu ana ki runga i te reo Māori Ko te reo, nō te Atua mai.

The language is the life force of the mana Māori The word is the life force of the language These two ideas are absolutely crucial to the Māori language A language, which is a gift to us from God.

Ahakoa e toru tekau ngā tau kua hipa, ka mau tonu ngā kupu ā Tā Hemi Hēnare - Although 30 years have passed, the words of Sir James Henare still endure.

In this 2015 Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori - Māori Language Week, Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga acknowledges the work of countless kuia, kaumatua, researchers, teachers and practitioners over the years who have all strived to ensure the survival of the language and culture in a modern and ever changing world.

NPM has conducted ground breaking research in this area for the past 13 years through the work of investigators and researchers such as Professor Rawinia Higgins, Associate Professor Poia Rewi, Professor Margaret Mutu, Dr Katharina Ruckstuhl, Dr Rangi Matamua, Dr Joe Te Rito, Dr Te Kaka Keegan, Dr Margie Hohepa, Māmari Stephens, Jeremy Tātere MacLeod and many others too numerous too mention.

Our Te Pae Tawhiti: Te reo Māori project sought to understand how the language contributes to economic development, to cultural identity and social cohesion and in addition to this looked at uplifting language participation, increasing depth and fluency in Te Reo and understanding the value of the Māori language in a variety of settings.

Last year Rawinia Higgins, Poia Rewi and their team produced a downloadable app called 'Aki', which came from their He Iho Reo project which studied how families pass on the Māori language to their children. In this project they focused on developing a “tool-box” which would support Māori language transmission and maintenance.

In June 2014 NPM, in association with Victoria University of Wellington and the University of Otago, and through our Te Kura Roa research programme, launched a significant Māori language book ‘The Value of the Māori Language: Te Hua o Te Reo Māori’.

These are just some of the projects that NPM has been involved in since 2002, and in 2016 we look forward to continuing this valuable and important work under our new CoRE contract.

An example of how important this work is to the identity of our nation, is perhaps illustrated best by the recently shared online video of Finnian Galbraith - which has attracted enourmous attention and support from around the country and internationally.

In this most important of weeks, we also acknowledge the life of Erima Henare (Ngāti Hine). Erima passed away in May of this year and was a past head of the Māori Language Commission and a respected authority on the ancient and modern history, reo and tikanga of Te Tai Tokerau.

In 2012, Erima presented a talk on Te Reo Māori and Literature at our 4th Annual Research Symposium which was held in Rotorua. A video of this talk can be found here on our MediaCentre.

Finally we end as we began, with the words of Erima's father - Tā Hēmi Henare (Sir James Henare)

Link below to other NPM projects focused on Te Reo Māori

He rito whakakīnga whārua: Language value and development in communities

Te Reo, a language for Māori alone? An enquiry into the views of Māori

Kia areare ki ngā Reo o ngā Tīpuna

Whangaia te hinengaro: Reading to learn in te reo Māori

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