Disconnection and reconnection: Jeremy Banks

 

This is Jeremy Banks.

 

Jeremy, Ngāti Rārua, Rangitāne, Ngāti Kuia, has a BSc (Hons) in Computer Science from the University of Otago and has had a successful career in software development. He is also involved in governance, initiated through the associate director governance succession program run by Wakatū Incorporation.

 

Jeremy has recently given evidence on our behalf in Stafford v Attorney-General.

He started by sharing his own story of reconnecting with the whenua.

 

“My story is a fairly typical one of disconnection and reconnection that my generation has to navigate as a result of our tūpuna losing their land and the resulting disconnection from our cultural identity.

 

It was not until I became an adult that I began the substantive journey of reconnection to my identity, to my language, to my whakapapa, to my whenua and most importantly to my whānau whānui.

 

Our stories of who we are, and our journeys of reconnection to overcome the historical injustices wrought by colonisation, also speak directly to why we are pursuing this Court case for our whānau and hapū.”

 

Jeremy’s evidence to the Court covered:

 

• The importance of continuing this case for the whānau and hapū.

 

• The engagement hui and wānanga that have taken place since 2017 with whānau, and the work that is planned following the trial to reconnect whānau to whakapapa and whenua.

 

• The fundamental principles and the core values that underpin this work, including kotahitanga, whanaungatanga and whakapapa to whenua.

Jeremy is also a member of the Te Here-ā-Nuku Working Commitee

 

Ngā mihi, Jeremy