May 08, 2015
Tribal history preserved through claim
Tai Tokerau MP Kelvin Davis says the stories and wisdom passed down by northern leader Erima Henare should be treasured and passed on to future generations.
The Maori language commissioner and Waitangi Tribunal member died yesterday at the age of 62.
Mr Davis says he was schooled by his father Sir James Henare and grew up learning a huge amount of history and whakapapa.
Many of those stories made their way into submissions to various Waitangi Tribunal inquiries.
"It’s up to us now to take every opportunity to read through what has been said, and to learn it and to start teaching our own children and to convert all that information into resources for schools and education so our kids can grow up learning about that knoweldge and history at school so that it isn't strange to us, because we know and we have grown up with it," Mr Davis says.
Erima Henare will lie in state at Otiria Marae in Moerewa until Sunday afternoon.
He will then be taken to Motatau Marae to lie in the house Manu Koroki with whanau and friends until the funeral service on Monday morning.
His final resting place final resting place will be the Takapuna Wahi Tapu in Motatau, where he will lie with his mother and father and amongst his many other relatives who have been interred there since 1918.
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