Editorial

Tena Koutou Katoa everyone,

I am so pleased and excited to finally send you the

Federation quarterly update in an improved format. This has

been my dream since 2011. I hope you like it. your

feedback will be very welcome.

I am pleased to announce that our upgraded website is live

but lot of work still needed to get it to the level we want –

see more under Website section.

I would like to acknowledge the quality of the last February

Council meeting. The project was led by Pancha Narayanan

and the Federation office especially Jessica. In line with our

new Governance framework the Executive provided the

vision and the office implemented it. I am really pleased with

the outcome. I will like to thank Orongomai Marae, Upper

Hutt Multicultural Council, Ministry of Social Development,

Ministry of Culture and Heritage, Minister for Transport (Mike

Scrivener), Upper Hutt Cossie Club and Karori Rotary Club

for their support in kind and financially.

You communication buddies have done a great job

reminding people to send information for this newsletter The

Regional Review section is fantastic.

Thanks to your wonderful Executive, they have been

amazing to work with. We share the same passion, vision

and aspiration which makes our work effortless

and effective.

Today I am writing the editorial, however if you would like to

write something relevant to the work we do please sent your

article to me. Don’t forget the photo! Editorial privilege will

prevail and nothing that is destructive or lacks respect for

ourselves or others will be printed No more than 200 words.

I am really looking forward to the AGM - the workshops will

be very exciting. We will be haring our business plan and

operating budget for 2013, so exciting.

See you in June – Noho ora mai raa

Thank you all for your support and for all the work you

Go to our new website, facebook and

twitter and take a look

www.nzfmc.org.nz (website)

twitter.com/nzfmc

www.facebook.com/pages/New-Zealand-

Federation-of-Multicultural-Councils

Nau Mai Piki Mai NZFMC Newsletter April 2013 Issue 1

What we have been up to

We have achieved some really good milestones over

the past few weeks, including:

Getting the website up and running, we are now on facebook and twitter

Holding a very positive meeting with Settlement Support in the Department of Labour

Attending Susan Devoy’s powhiri with a productive meeting with her the following day

Completing The Federation’s business plan which will be out shortly, with an associated budget

Beginning the AGM planning

Successful visits by Rattan to Tauranga and Napier

Attendance by Anita, at the Manawatu Cultural Festival

Attendance byTayo at the Lower Hutt Cultural Festival

The start of writing the Federation’s Constitutional review submission, please have your comments to Rattan by 30 April. Your comments are very important

Attendance by Rattan at Joris De Bres “Final Farewell”

Website

Take a look - it is fantastic, thanks to Rattan and

Jessica for all your hard work.

Rattan is working on a member login facility so that all

our updated policies, council meeting and monthly

executive meeting minutes can be accessed by RMCs.

This is in line with the current executive open

governance policy.

It is very exciting, so watch this space.

Office Policies

These are nearly complete now – you will love the

great design – they are easy to read and easy to follow.

They will be on the website once they are all

completed.

If there is any special policies you would like written let

Sheryn know – project@nzfmc.org.nz

A G M

The AGM dates are confirmed for the 28th to 30th of June in Auckland.

The workshops are:

Restorative Justice

Auckland strategy

Presentation of business plans

The tentative venue is the Aotea Centre and

accommodation for delegates at Rendezvous

Hotel, The more delegates we get the cheaper the

room rate. At this stage it is $155

We would like to encourage you, if your funds

permit, to send a senior, women and youth rep to

the meeting. North Islanders, please carpool to

keep expenses down. Special Groups, please let

Alexis know if you want to meet Friday evening.

Please liaise with Alexis for further info

News from the Office

Press Releases

We have put out the following press releases:

Challenged the comments made by Richard Prosser

Expressed our disappointment in Settlement Support services stated by you all at our February meeting

Commented on the report of UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

Presented the concept of Treaty based multiculturalism

Outlined the NZFMC priorities for 2013 specifically in relation to achieving demonstrable outcomes for Migrant Communities.

Congratulated Dame Susan Devoy on being appointed to her new position.

About town

Settlement Support

The Federation’s relationships with those who work in the

Settlement Support area have been strained over the past

few years. That was no secret. Recently the Federation

put out a press release expressing our concern about the

manner in which Settlement Support was operating. As a

result of this press release we were asked by Settlement

Support to visit them. I went with Mohamud Mohamed,

Alexis and Rattan. The meeting was very productive and

very honest. As a result we agreed that we wanted to

rebuild our relationship, and that representatives would

come to our Executive meetings and our AGM.

MOU with Parents Centres New

Zealand I am in the process of developing an MOU with Parents

Centres New Zealand in relation to our parenting

programme currently being developed. Parents Centres

New Zealand have a long history of running parenting

programmes and providing support for new mums and

dads including prenatal classes, so it was the right

organisation to choose to partner with for the facilitation of

our programme. Members of the Regional Multicultural

councils will co facilitate the programme with PCNZ. Once

the MOU has been finalised, you will be receiving a copy.

Check out their website www.parentscentre.org.nz

Time with Dame Susan

Sheryn and I went to Dame Susan’s powhiri last week and we came away with the impression that Dame Susan has a very good sense of humour, her feet on the ground and she is ready to listen, discuss and debate the issues of importance in New Zealand’s race relations. This was confirmed when Rattan and I visited her the next day. We were able to get high on the priority list due to the conciliatory press release the Federation put out at the time of her appointment. She wants to work with the Federation and we are pleased about this. She will come to our AGM in Auckland which will be a good opportunity for you all to meet her and ask her questions and answer hers. Dame Susan was open and interested in what we had to say. I am positive about the next five years working with her.

I would like us to acknowledge the effort of our

community who pushed and promoted,

through media releases, consultation and

ultimately our submission to CERD, the need

for the Government to retain the statutory

independence of the Race Relations

Commissioner. It was through this good work,

that the Government listened.

Settling In It is with great disappointment that the Government has

cut back funding rather than improve and expand MSD

Settling In initiatives. We were not successful in

convincing the Government of the value and impact of

this unique program to our community especially to

vulnerable children and their families. It is a shame that

the action of the Minister contradicts her statement

NGOs get along well with whanau, individuals and

communities better than Government “ so the question

is why is she cutting back on settling in programme that

uses the model she is promoting? Before taking this

action the Minister would have benefited from a visit

our Palmerston North, Nelson, Tauranga, Dunedin and

Waitaki RMCs to see how well Settling In is doing in

helping people settle into their new communities.

Regional Roundup

News from the South The Multicultural Food Festival celebrating Race

Relations Day was held March 16th once again at James

Hargest Senior College, Invercargill. This is the fourth

year we have held a Food Festival and it has now

become an annual event. Cyril from Murihiku Marae

opened the event with a karakia and welcome. The gym

area was set out like a food court with 15 food stalls

around the outer edge, and tables and chairs in the

centre.

And the not so South Waitaki Multicultural council was part of creating Waitaki

as a safe city. The Multicultural Councils was part of the

Safer Waitaki Project coalition and joined in as part of

the designation ceremony last week. Mr Olsen, the

safer Waitaki co-chair said those who were now

involved with the project had been trying to make sure

the community was safe, but when everyone came

together, they became much more powerful.

Franklin multicultural festival The sixth Annual Franklin Multicultural Festival - to

commemorate the Race Relations Day - organised by

the Puni School and the Counties Manukau Ethnic

Council, with the support of local sporting bodies and a

number of business houses, once again it was held at

the Pukekohe Intermediate School on Sunday 7 April

2013. The theme of the festival was “Celebrating our

Diversity”.

There were games and dances as well as numerous

other offerings, e g varieties of ethnic cuisines; children

jumping castles; train rides; balloons, raffles, free gifts;

henna designs etc.

Hutt Multicultural Councils Multi-fest

Holi celebration, held at Lower Hutt Horticultural

Centre, together with the New Zealand Hindu

Association.

In excess of 5000 people attended over the day

with Cultural and information stalls, celebrations

from different migrant groups, attendance by the

mayors, and Tayo were all part of the celebration.

The theme was peace and just before the lunch

break 10 peace doves were released to remind

us all of the importance of peace throughout our

lands.

Dunedin’s comings and goings Dunedin Multi Ethnic Council has had a very busy

time lately. They were actively involved in the

Census project, and hope their efforts make a

difference to those responding to the census. Not

long after that they held their race relations dayon

9th March. Nine groups provided an entertaining

and varied programme and 250 people came to

watch and participate. The Councils Chai and

Chat continues to grow, friendships are forged

and information shared. It is very valuable.

Dunedin’s big news is that are about to open an

office in town. They are working very hard to get

the right venue and the right person to staff it.

Once it is open they will let us all know.

Regional Roundup

Continued

Tauranga

On 14th March 2013 TRMC has hosted a delegation from Ansan City in South Korea.

The delegation was led by the Ansan City Deputy Mayor Jung, Seung-Bong.

Other representatives of the city included CEO/Vice President of Ansan Urban Development Inc. Kim, Jin-Kyu, Director of Ansan City Migrant Community Service Centre, Bok-Hee, Jeon, and several other officials. The delegation included also Consul of the Republic of Korea from Sydney - Mr. Young-Chang (James) CHO.

The visit to our office was arranged by Mr.Hyun Taek Yang, the Director of Tauranga Korean times Ltd., who together with Olive Fitzjphn, acted is interpreters.

The reason for the visit was to learn from our experience how to best work with migrants and how to make settling in process better for the many newcomers to the Ansan City. The city is now home to over 50000 people from other countries, which is about 10% of their population

News from the Garden City Christchurch Christchurch Multicultural Councils were involved with two special projects recently. Ethnic A and emergency preparedness: EthnicA Christchurch. Christchurch Multicultural Council was well represented at the Christchurch EthnicA conference organised by the Office of Ethnic Affairs. Presentations included these interesting topics: Women and leadership; Leading ethnic diversity in the workplace; and Multiculturalism. Emergency Preparedness: Christchurch Multicultural Council is working with the NZ Red Cross, Civil Defence and MSD to educate the ethnic communities in the need for better preparation for dealing with emergency situations such as earthquake, tsunami etc. Discussions are also taking place for establishing some culture and faith specific welfare centres, or parts thereof, where people are more comfortable staying there than a common place. This task is one of the actions from the “Lessons Learnt” recommendations from the Christchurch post-earthquake analysis.

President’s comment: This is something we must

all look at and we at the Federation will be

planning how this can be done.

Fun from Whanganui

Festival of Colours also known as Holi is to celebrate victory of good over evil and also to celebrate the harvest

season. On the 27th of March 2013, Whanganui Multicultural Youth Group held an event, Festival of Colours at

Tulsi Dham Temple. The event started at 6pm and went until 8pm. We welcomed all ethnicities and age groups

to this event. Due to the fire ban in the area we were unable preform the usual rituals related to celebrate the

harvest. The temple was open to all for prayers. We used many different coloured powder and water balloons

The event went great, it was a fun and enjoyable night.

On your behalf, I would like to take this opportunity to thank our key sponsors and

supporters of the work we do. Without their support we would not achieve what we do.

Thank you to:

Thank you to our supporters