Conference Speakers

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Annette Te Imaima Sykes

Annette Te Imaima SykesDirector, Annette Sykes & Co Ltd

Annette Te Imaima Sykes is of Ngati Pikiao and Ngati Makino descent who focuses on Maori law in her own law firm. She has been actively advocating for human rights for over 35 years and is dedicated to bringing about constitutional change. She has also been involved in the Waitangi Tribunal Claims process, addressing issues related to the cultural and intellectual property rights of Maori communities affected by government policies.

Annette was one of the first members of the Maori Broadcasting Agency, which was established after successful court claims regarding the Maori language. She also served as a founding member of Aotearoa Fisheries Ltd and was appointed Deputy Chairperson as part of the Maori Fisheries Settlement in 1989.

Annette has represented Maori in various United Nations forums and has provided advice on issues such as human trafficking, promoting a nuclear-free Pacific, and advocating for Indigenous rights. She has held important positions in several organizations dedicated to sustainable Maori development.

Currently, she is a member of Te Tai Kaha Maori Collective and acts as an advisor to the Government in promoting Maori rights, interests and responsibilities in freshwater and taking part in the Resource Management reforms. She recently became the main lawyer representing Maori in claims against the government regarding the CPP TPPA, ensuring that Te Tiriti o Waitangi is respected in free trade negotiations. Above all, she is a mother and grandmother and is deeply connected to her tribal communities who have supported her throughout her career.

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Kathryn Chapman

Kathryn ChapmanKo Taranaki te mounga
Ko Aotea te waka
Ko Waingongoro te awa
Ko Ngarongo te Marae
Ko Ngati Ruanui me Ngaruahinerangi nga iwi
Ko Arauukuku te hapu
Ko Kathryn Chapman tōku ingoa.

Kathryn started her studies in Rotorua at Waiariki in 2010. Upon graduating Kathryn struggled to find mahi as a nurse in Rotorua and did part-time in wound management for 6 months before moving back to Auckland to look after her sick grandfather. There she worked as a support worker until an interview with Turuki Health where she joined the manakidz Rheumatic fever prevention programme in Māngere schools. She had been there for 4 years before moving into a role as Youth Health Team lead in Alternative education, this included Teen parenting units and Wharekura before moving into clinical nurse adviser for Manakidz at National Hauora Coalition (NHC māori PHO). Two days into new role at National Hauora Coalition Covid had shut the country down. 

During the covid-19 outbreak Kathryn was involved in setting up pop up testing stations and then setting up the Papakura Marae Vaccination drive through. The other mahi that Kathryn was involved in are as follows:

  • Flu Vaccinations in the home in 2020 (Waikato NHC)
  • Swabbing nurse at Multiple testing stations (South Auckland and central Auckland)
  • Help set a drive through vaccination site and Cold Chain Lead (Papakura Marae)
  • Help and be apart of the Maori Covid-19 response unit called Pae Ora (Auckland) reaching our most vulnarable, transient and “hard to reach” whānau
  • Helped with vaccinating from Kaitaia to Waikato with an amazing bunch of māori nurses.

Kathryn also sits on Te Toputanga Kaitiaki o Aotearoa Poari me te tiamana ki Tamaki Makaurau.

Māori health and the health of her people is what drives her passion for nursing in the community.

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Linda Munn

Linda MunnKo Kopukairoa te Maunga
Ko Waitao te Awa
Ko Maataatua te Waka
Ko Nga Potiki te Iwi
Ko Romainohorangi te Tupuna
Ko Tahuwhakatiki te Marae
Ko Linda Munn ko au

I also whakapapa to Ngati Manu no Karetu and Te Atiawa ki Kai Tahu

Artist Biography – Linda Munn

Linda Munn was guided and mentored by a group of strong and forward thinking Wahine who were key members of the Black Women’s Movement Aotearoa and Tamatoa and subsequently became involved with numerous protest events. The land Movement, Anti-nuclear demonstration’s, Springbok tour and Hikoi to Waitangi, these were all significant in the reclamation of Māori culture, Te Reo, Whenua, basically not to be treated as 2nd class people on our own land.

In 1989 the idea of Māori being able to fly their own Kara (flag), being inspired by the First nations and rightful owners of Australia, who had flown their own flag since 1974. Te Kawariki ran a flag competition, from which evolved and what is now as the Tino Rangatiratanga Kara.

The Tino Rangatiratanga Kara is uniquely Maori in its design, it also acknowledges all the whanau and those who were key to the tikanga, korero and who have fought side by side for the Kaupapa.

Munn’s artistic practice reinforces the principles of Tino Rangatiratanga by applying ancestral knowledge to explore the metaphysical and spiritual aspects of Māori tikanga. She works primarily in paint but also works in sculpture, using Uku (clay), wood and stone. She is currently working on public works centred around Nga Potiki cultural elements.

Her artistic passion centres on resistance, community, the protection of women and children against Domestic Violence and the sharing of knowledge.

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Dr Lyla June 

Dr Lyla JuneDr. Lyla June Johnston (aka Lyla June) is an Indigenous musician, author, and community organizer of Diné (Navajo), Tsétsêhéstâhese (Cheyenne) and European lineages.

Her multi-genre presentation style has engaged audiences across the globe towards personal, collective, and ecological healing. She blends her study of Human Ecology at Stanford, graduate work in Indigenous Pedagogy, and the traditional worldview she grew up with to inform her music, perspectives and solutions. Her doctoral research focused on the ways in which pre-colonial Indigenous Nations shaped large regions of Turtle Island (aka the Americas) to produce abundant food systems for humans and non-humans.

View her TEDx talk 3000-year-old solutions to modern problems

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Teah Carlson

Teah CarlsonI (Teah) often think about our accountability to Papatūānuku in everything I do. Every research & evaluative approach, whenua, ka ora te tangata".

He uri mokopuna tēnei no Te Whānau-A-Apanui, Ngāti Porou me Waikato- Tainui. Whare tangata, artist, story catcher and teller.

I draw on these identities to express, connect and articulate Indigenous spirit, aroha and wisdom. Community psychology trained and practising as a kaupapa Māori researcher and evaluator. My work highlights the importance of the Indigenous voice and control with respect to the design and delivery of health services, workforce development, governance, qualitative methods, strategy and evaluation. 

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