NZFMC’s 24th Annual General Meeting The 24th Annual General Meeting of the New Zealand Federation of Multicultural Councils was held last 29-30 June 2013 at Sudima Hotel, Auckland. With the theme “Many People Together For One Nation”, Mr. Tayo Agunlejika stressed NZFMC’s successes on its strategic development, operational capability, communication and community collaboration. According to him, these milestones were not possible without the conscientious of the people involved to make things done. The event was attended by community volunteers from different multicultural councils, NZFMC’s strategic partners and key persons involved in working with ethnic communities. The welcome remarks were given by the Hon Len Brown, Mayor of Auckland; Melissa Lee MP, Parliamentary Private Secretary for Ethnic Affairs; and Mai Chen, Managing Partner of Chen Palmer Public and Employment Law Specialists. It was followed by the update from (continued to Page 8) Hon. Len Brown, Mayor of Auckland, gave warm welcome to the delegates. “Many People Together for One Nation” 2nd Life Membership Award presented to Brian Bellett The second Life Membership Award was presented to Mr. Brian Bellett of Southland Multicultural Council, Invercargill. It was formally given to him last 29 June 2013 during the dinner function of the 24th Annual General Meeting in Auckland. Brian has contributed tremendous leadership, guidance and support to Southland Multicultural Council. He has a strong advocacy to support ethnic communities and he actively represented minority groups in the area at various community meetings and court hearings. A father figure, he has given support to (continued to Page 7) 1st Newsletter from Tairawhiti The Tairawhiti Multicultural Council Inc. (TMC) has issued its first newsletter. The newsletter featured the responses from candidates running for local elections in Gisborne. The question given was, “What is your vision for Gisborne in terms of cultural diversity?” TMC had compiled the candidates’ responses. You may view the newsletter from NZFMC website, under TMC page tairawhiti.nzfmc.org.nz . # Promoting multiculturalism in Wanganui River City Press featured the Multicultural Council of Rangitikei/ Wanganui on its recent issue dated 19 September 2013. You may check the featured article at www.rivercitypress.co.nz/press/19th- septmeber-2013/ # NEW ZEALAND FEDERATION OF MULTICULTURAL COUNCILS September 2013 Issue 2 Editorial 2 Restorative Justice 2 Ethnic leaders standing for Local 2 Diversity in Tairawhiti 3 Events page 4-5 Regional Round-Up 6 Remembering Mollie 7 Council Meeting Update 8 Inside this issue: Melissa Lee MP, Parliamentary Private Secretary for Ethnic Affairs Mai Chen, Managing Partner of Chen Palmer Public and Employment Law Specialists
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Transcript
NZFMC’s 24th Annual General Meeting
The 24th Annual General
Meeting of the New
Zealand Federation of
Multicultural Councils was
held last 29-30 June 2013
at Sudima Hotel,
Auckland. With the theme
“Many People Together
For One Nation”, Mr. Tayo
Agunlejika stressed
NZFMC’s successes on its
strategic development,
operational capability,
communication and
community collaboration.
According to him, these
milestones were not
possible without the
conscientious of the
people involved to make
things done.
The event was attended
by community volunteers
from different
multicultural councils,
NZFMC’s strategic
partners and key persons
involved in working with
ethnic communities.
The welcome remarks
were given by the Hon
Len Brown, Mayor of
Auckland; Melissa Lee MP,
Parliamentary Private
Secretary for Ethnic
Affairs; and Mai Chen,
Managing Partner of Chen
Palmer Public and
Employment Law
Specialists.
It was followed by the
update from
(continued to Page 8)
Hon. Len Brown, Mayor of Auckland, gave warm welcome to the delegates.
“Many People Together for One Nation”
2nd Life Membership Award presented to Brian Bellett The second Life
Membership Award was
presented to Mr. Brian
Bellett of Southland
Multicultural Council,
Invercargill. It was
formally given to him last
29 June 2013 during the
dinner function of the 24th
Annual General Meeting
in Auckland.
Brian has contributed
tremendous leadership,
guidance and support to
Southland Multicultural
Council. He has a strong
advocacy to support
ethnic communities and he
actively represented
minority groups in the
area at various community
meetings and court
hearings. A father figure,
he has given support to
(continued to Page 7)
1st Newsletter from
Tairawhiti
The Tairawhiti Multicultural Council
Inc. (TMC) has issued its first
newsletter. The newsletter featured the
responses from candidates running for
local elections in Gisborne.
The question given was, “What is your
vision for Gisborne in terms of cultural
diversity?” TMC had compiled the
candidates’ responses. You may view
the newsletter from NZFMC website,
under TMC page
tairawhiti.nzfmc.org.nz . #
Promoting
multiculturalism in
Wanganui
River City Press featured the
Multicultural Council of Rangitikei/
Wanganui on its recent issue dated 19
September 2013.
You may check the featured article at
www.rivercitypress.co.nz/press/19th-
septmeber-2013/ #
N E W Z E A L A N D F E D E R A T I O N O F M U L T I C U L T U R A L C O U N C I L S
September 2013
Issue 2
Editorial 2
Restorative Justice 2
Ethnic leaders
standing for Local
2
Diversity in Tairawhiti 3
Events page 4-5
Regional Round-Up 6
Remembering Mollie 7
Council Meeting
Update
8
Inside this issue:
Melissa Lee MP, Parliamentary Private Secretary for Ethnic Affairs
Mai Chen, Managing Partner of Chen Palmer Public and Employment Law Specialists
Restorative Justice Update by: Mike Scrivener, Hutt Multicultural Council are also used in the education sector.
[1]"Restorative justice is a process to involve, to the extent possible, those who have a stake in a specific offence and to collectively identify and address harms, needs and obligations, in order to heal and put things as right as possible"
The concept of Restorative Justice
(RJ) was introduced to Regional
Multicultural Councils (RMCs) by
Mike Hinton and Natalia Taurima
from Restorative Justice Aotearoa at
the NZFMC Annual General Meeting
(AGM) in Auckland last June 2013.
Resources of DVD and booklet
produced by the Ministry of Justice
(MoJ) was given to RMCs at the
AGM. Information may also be
accessed via the MoJ's website.
Please note that Restorative Practices
“ RMCs can offer to provide our
members' cultural, linguistic and
religious expertise to assist in the
provision of culturally appropriate
restorative justice services. ”
Page 2 Nau Mai Piki Mai
1. Zehr, H. (2002) The Little Book of Restorative Justice. Good Books, Intercourse, PA, pg. 37.
Editorial
Tēnā koutou everyone,
Spring has gotten off to a great start
with stunning weather but what does
spring symbolize? We believe
Spring symbolizes rebirth, life and
growth.
For NZFMC, we are excited about
rebirth of important strategic
relationships and collaboration, the
birth of significant projects to be
implemented by our organisation
and we are most encouraged by
the significant developments we are
seeing across all regions.
We are starting our Spring with
learnings from E Tū, to develop a
national ethnic community action plan
about what works to prevent family
violence. This will be presented at
our Gisborne hui in November 2013.
We are working on partnering to
train facilitators to deliver cultural
consideration restorative justice
processes, community based
regional settlement support
initiatives, a case for ethnic business
excellence awards, a positive race
relations education programme,
organising and developing national
New Zealand Communities Football
Cup (NZCFC) with the NZ Police HQ
and most exciting is looking forward
to another successful ten years of
MSD Settling In.
We are excited and committed to
deliver these initiatives in our
regions by supporting and providing
resources to build the capacity
and capability of RMCs.
I would like to conclude by sharing
this quote from Hon. Minister
Tariana Turia, "Communities have
the capacity and collective capacity
to overcome the various challenges
that confront them and, can and will
take responsibility if empowered to
do so."
Noho ora mai
—- Tayo Agunlejika
NZFMC Executives with Hon. Minister Tariana Turia.
formation of TMC. I look forward to
everyone’s support in the future so
that we can promote and celebrate
“Diversity in Tairawhiti”. It has been
an honour and a privilege to be
involved with TMC. #
organised by TMC in which
members brought food from their
culture or country of birth. The
International Day for Cultural
Diversity held last 21st May 2013 was
attended by over 35 people with
more than 15 different
dishes being enjoyed
by all.
TMC recently
received its charitable
status with Charities
Commission.
TMC also developed a
strategic plan. We are
lucky to have
Counsellor Bruce Montgomery
who will lead anger management
and family violence
intervention projects
for us in future.
Finally, I wish to thank
everyone that has
supported us in the
early stages for the
The emblem was designed by
local artist Jess Jacobs and
digitalised by Brendon Terekia.
Huge thanks to Cr. Manu Caddie
for his leadership in this project.
“Diversity in Tairawhiti” by: Arish Naresh, Tairawhiti Multicultural Council
Tena Katou Katoa
Tairawhiti Multicultural Council
(TMC) is the youngest regional
council which held its initial meeting
on 22nd November 2012 to see the
level of interest from communities in
forming a multicultural council and
now officially becomes the
Federation’s 20th member.
Our council would like to thank Tayo
and his team for their support in
setting up of our council. The initial
meeting was supported by NZFMC’s
President and Vice President as well
as former Race Relations
Commissioner, Joris De Bres .With
the support of Mayor Meng Foon and
others, TMC was formalised on 22nd
February 2013.
TMC supported the Race Unity
Speech Awards which was organised
brilliantly by the Gisborne Baha’I
Community.
The Global Feast event was held and
Page 3
Ethnic Leaders standing up for Local Council positions This year’s local body elections will
take place on October 12, 2013. The
need to step up and to stand for a
local council position is seen from the
ethnic community. These people are
making their way up to voice and
make a stand for what is known to
them the best for the community.
In this year’s local elections, these
people are on their way to stage their
platforms:
Alexis LewGor - Rotorua District
Council & Lakes District Health Board
Anne Degia-Pala - Auckland Council
- Henderson-Massey Local Board
Bevan Chuang - Auckland Council -
Albert-Eden Local Board -
Maungawhau Subdivision
Camila Chin - Capital and Coast
District Health Board
Elizabeth Paine - Palmerston North
City Council
George Abraham - Canterbury
District Health Board
Karunanidhi Muthu - Wellington
City Mayor & Wellington City
Council - Eastern Ward
Ramesh Sharma - Tauranga City
Council - Otumoetai-Pyes Pa Ward
Rattan Prakash - Upper Hutt City
Council
Susan Zhu - Auckland Council -
Whau Local Board
Tayo Agunlejika - Hutt Valley District
Health Board
You may view their profiles on
www.vote.co.nz . The website will
also get you through the other
candidates also running for the
elections.
They have contributed their time to
their regions through volunteering,
involvement, and actually working
with the community. Support for them
is greatly needed to bring forward
leaders from the ethnic
community. #
NZFMC’s 24th Annual General Meeting in Auckland
Page 4 Nau Mai Piki Mai
“One Stop Shop” for Wanganui communities
The Multicultural Council of
Rangitikei/Wanganui
formally opened its office last
13 July 2013. It’s new
coordinator is Yvette Simons.
It was well attended by
supporters and community
members. #
Wellington RMCs joined the first Multicultural Rugby Festival
Page 5
Manawatu Multicultural Council celebrates 20 Years
The Multicultural Rugby Festival was
held last 8th September 2013 at Pōneke
Football Club in Kilbirnie, Wellington.
Our three (3) RMCs had supported this
initiative namely the Hutt, Upper Hutt
and Wellington RMCs.
Different teams from different ethnicities
joined this festive event.#
The Manawatu Muticultural Council celebrated
its 20th anniversary last 17th August 2013. This
momentous event was highlighted by
ceremonial function, cultural performances,
and networking. Attendees were welcomed by
sumptuous gourmet cuisine and cultural
presentations. There was also an opportunity
to meet the Mayoral candidates. #
Charitable Trust, Rotorua Multicultural
Business Council, Rotorua Arts Village
Experience, GLOBALfest Charitable
Trust, Speech NZ and Rotorua District
Council.
RMC has been successful in running
these events: U&I series (cooking
class, language class, sports
competition); Newcomers Bush Walk,
Professional Speaking For Migrants
course, Waitangi Day celebration and
more.
The “Multicultural Rotorua”
Regional Round-Up The vision of Rotorua Multicultural
Council (RMC) is to make migrants
feel that they belong and able to
contribute to the Rotorua community.
Empowering the community has been
RMC’s role and their services have
been reaching migrants and
newcomers. They presently have
community activities ranging from
cultural festivals, cultural/religious
gatherings, coffee mornings, potlucks,
to school holiday programmes,
language week celebrations, and
sports competitions.
RMC collaboratively works with
different organisations including:
Rotorua Newcomers Network, English
Language Partners, Settlement
Support, Rotorua Citizens Advice
Bureau, Rotorua Christmas Parade
Page 6 Nau Mai Piki Mai
RMC would not have made its
programmes and services possible
without the support from its funders:
Rotorua Trust, COGS, Lotteries Grants
Board, NZCT, Tindall Foundation,
Statistics New Zealand and Mokoia
Community Association. RMC would
also like to thank the volunteers for
their help and support.
Executive members of RMC consist of
Alexis LewGor, Dr. Margriet Theron,
Susana So, and Judy Winiata. #
They also have programmes for youth
and young toddlers. They have
Toddlers Group and MC Youth Day.
They were successful in running a
workshop on Intercultural Awareness
and Communication. The workshop
was able to equip the participants in
enhancing their relationships in
workplace, customers and
stakeholders.
Promoting “Unity in Diversity” in Nelson Nelson Multicultural Council (NMC)
has its vision that newcomers,
migrants and locals are well
welcomed; they are able to settle in a
safe environment and able to
contribute to the community.
NMC has provided support to
newcomers wherein a dedicated field
worker is tasked to meet and help
them in their settlement needs.
Aside from community activities, NMC
also welcomes its new group
members: Indo-Nelson and Nelson
Kayan Community Group.
NMC collaboratively works with
different organisations including:
NMDHB Midwifery Service, Victory
Health, Nelson City Council, Nelson
Newcomers Network, Te Rito Network,
and S.K.I.P.
Executive committee of NMC consists
of Dayanira Bakhshi, Baki Bakhshi,
Denise Hutterd, Jyoti Sandhu, Priyani
de Silva-Currie, Diane Homer, Claire
Keenan, Marie Johnstone, Lun Tan, and
Richard Yang.
To know more about NMC, please visit
www.nelsonmulticultural.co.nz #
U&I can cook Thai at Amazing Thai Restaurant Performers at the U&I Learn Maori 2013
at Whakarewarewa Thermal Village
“10 Simple Ways to
Eliminate Racism”
was produced by NMC,
and has been
distributed throughout
Nelson and to many
parts of New Zealand .
Mollie Ngan Kee, New Zealand’s first
Chinese Justice of Peace, died
peacefully last 22 July at the age of
87. Mollie is considered one of the
people behind the successes of Hutt
Multicultural Council. She was a
Justice of Peace, councillor, deputy
mayor, marriage celebrant, and a
community leader described as
“passionately family-oriented”.
At an early age of 18, she was part of
setting up Wellington’s first Chinese
youth club, the Chinese Progress
Club and the first Double 10 Sports
Tournament. The sports tournament
later became the NZ Chinese
Association’s Easter Sports
Tournament.
Her leadership and organisational
skills continued and Mollie became
part of different organisations in Hutt
Valley region.
Mollie was one of the founding
members of Hutt Ethnic Council,
which is presently known as Hutt
Multicultural Council.
She was involved in Hutt Valley’s
Remembering Mollie and her contributions to the community
community organisations. She was a
patron of Stokes Valley and Taita
Plunkets; previous member of Hutt
Valley Community Arts Council;
previous member of Taita College
Board of Governers; contributor to
the founding of Stokes Valley
swimming pool;
pioneered the
Stokes Valley
Community House;
and previous
member of the
Wellington
Hospital Board.
She was also the
previous regional
and district chair of
the Hutt Regional
Community Mental
Health Services
and she helped in
establishing the
Hillview in Lower
Hutt.
For 10 years she was an advocate for
Save the Children Fund, for which
Page 7
she was previously appointed as vice
president and collections co-
ordinator.
For 12 years, Mollie was a marriage
celebrant and she was able to be
part of those happy occasions.
She was awarded a Lloyd Morgan
Lions Award and
Rotary Paul Harris
Fellowship in 1998.
In 1999, she received
the Lower Hutt Civic
Award. She was
appointed as a
Companion of the
Queen’s Order
(QSO) in 2001. These
recognitions were all
given to her for her
invaluable deeds to
the community.
For all of her
contributions,
Mollie would definitely be missed by
all the people blessed by her
compassion and kindness.#
2nd Life Membership Award presented to Brian Bellett
(from Page 1)
migrant families in parent/teacher
interviews, and to new migrants who
miss their families. He is also
supportive and involved in
organising Noho Marae visits and
Treaty workshops.
At the Federation level, he has
actively participated in council
meetings, group forums, sub-
committees. He is a support person to
NZFMC’s executives, Seniors
Council, and to other South Island
RMCs.
Brian Bellett joined the committee of
the Southland Multicultural Council
in 2000. He was the president of the
council for twelve (12) years from
2001 to 2013. He decided to not to
stand for re-election this 2013. But he
still continues to serve the committee
as Immediate Past President.
The first Life Membership Award was
given to Ganges Singh last year
during the 23rd Annual General
Meeting in Upper Hutt.#
Brian Bellett (second from right), receiving the Life membership award.