It is hard to imagine kids, as young as five and six, being beaten at school for speaking Māori, but for a generation that was their harsh reality. One of those still feeling the pain of that treatment as a child is former Māori Affairs Minister Dover Samuels.
Last year, Dover Samuels called on the Government to apologise to all those brutally punished at school for speaking Te Reo Māori. The impact of the Native Schools Act 1867 not only silenced those children, but subsequent generations of families whose language has been lost as a result. Maiki Sherman has this report.
