Mayor’s proposal for bilingual naming of Invercargill civic buildings part accepted – sticking points remain

A culturally charged Invercargill City Council meeting has accepted the bottom line of a proposal from Mayor Nobby Clark, to develop a protocol to advance the bilingual naming of the city’s civic buildings.

But several sticking points in the detail of his proposal drew heated reproach and were bounced back for more research and consultation with rūnaka.

The 30-seat public gallery was filled to overflowing with iwi strongly contesting many aspects of the proposal, including the mayor’s wish to reject “metaphorical’’ names in te reo, which several speakers insisted was a language of metaphor.

Ultimately both sides welcomed the conclusion that left the contested issues to be resolved later, and Clark said the resolution had not breached his bottom line that there needed to be a clear process that opened the way for bilingual names to be used.

He had argued that renaming of public buildings that put the te reo name first had created confusion, such as the civic administration building now being Te Hinaki Civic Building.

Te hinaki translated as an eel pot, Clark said, and council should not approve metaphorical names in te reo that denoted something not relevant to the building or service provided.

Cr Tom Campbell said that to English speakers, eels suggested something slippery, evil and cunning.

Conversely, Mana whenua council representative Evelyn Cook said eels had been a vital food resource and the name suggested nourishment for the community.

Clark said there were community concerns that some buildings had an unequal focus on te reo.

For instance the transitional art and museum building, being used during the rebuild of the Southland Museum and Art Gallery, had only the te reo name He Waka Tuia.

However, several speakers reminded him that the branding on the building also featured the words Art + Museum with equal prominence, and that He Waka Tuia signified “A boat for us all’’.

The “bilingual approach’’ should be taken with all new premises such as the new museum and proposed art gallery, but not to such heritage venues as the Scottish Hall, ICC debating chamber, Civic Theatre and Eve Poole Civic Library, Clark proposed.

Where a bilingual name was used, the English version should be displayed first “given the very small number of te reo speakers’’.

Cr Lesley Soper said every name that had been gifted from local iwi had been done so with consultation and at the council’s request, and Dean Whaanga, speaking from the floor, said iwi would not have made such gifts without consultation and if they thought these would be rejected.

On Monday, local Māori said Clark was causing a “massive racial divide” in the city.

Clark told a room of Stop Co-Governance Tour attendees in the southern city at the weekend that he does not speak te reo Māori by choice, that he thinks Māori are being given “more power than they should have”, and that government policies involving co-governance “made me angry”.

Waihōpai Rūnaka kaiwhakahaere Cyril Gilroy had called on Clark, as mayor, to work harder to focus on uniting the community – and invited him and councillors to get to know them better.