November 22, 2017
Lawyers challenged to pull all into waka
Maori lawyers have been challenged to ensure Maori aren’t left behind in the post-settlement era.
About 300 lawyers and law students were in Auckland last weekend for the annual gathering of the Maori law society, Te Hunga Roia Maori o Aotearoa.
AUT senior law lecturer Khylee Quince says because of their skills many lawyers become involved in building post-settlement structures and investments.
Closing the conference, High Court Justice Joe Williams reminded them that there was more to settlements than forestry and fisheries.
"His challenge was that the post-settlement waka, the journey those people are on, cannot sail away from the Maori people who are the 5000 inmates in prison, the 10,000 Maori children with a parent in prison, the 3000 Maori children in non-whanau CYFS placements, in Oranga Tamariki. There is no point sailing off on the economic investment waka if we leave those tens of thousands of Maori in crisis through criminal justice, family law, youth justice and care and protection, if we leave them to drown," Ms Quince says.
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