Good Morning Alex
 
The information you seek is as follows and see attached prayer /  karakia.
 
Kind Regards
 

Sheryl Thomson  |  Customer Services Officer
WHAKATANE DISTRICT COUNCIL   |   Private Bag 1002   |   Whakatane 3158
Phone 07 306 0500 Ext 7403   |   Fax 07 307 0718
Email [1][email address]   |  
Web [2]www.whakatane.govt.nz

The content of this email is CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION and may also be
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From: Coral Hair
Sent: Friday, 27 April 2012 3:09 p.m.
To: CSC Shared Calendar
Subject: RE: Local Government Official Information and Meetings request:
Does the Whakatane District Council open its meetings with a prayer?

Hi Nicole

 

The Whakatane District Council has a prayer read by a Councillor at the
beginning of the Ordinary Council meeting which meets every 7 weeks. 
Prayer in English and Maori attached. Councillors can choose which one
they prefer.  It has been a tradition to open the Council meeting with a
prayer since I have been here (since 1997) and probably before then. We
had a period of 6 years (2004-2010) when our previous Mayor did not follow
that tradition and there was no prayer read at the beginning of the
meeting.  Our current Mayor has re-introduced this practice.

 

At one stage we did have Ministers from various religious backgrounds
doing a reading and blessing at the beginning of the Council meetings
around 1998-2004.

 

The Iwi Liaison Committee and the Eastern Bay Road Safety Committee do
start and end with a karakia. It is traditional where Maori are present on
Committees that this practice is followed as this is part of tikanga Maori
and it is considered rude not to do so.

 

Coral

 

Coral Hair  |  Administration Officer - Policy
WHAKATANE DISTRICT COUNCIL   |   Private Bag 1002   |   Whakatane 3158
Phone 07 306 0500 Ext 7551   |   Fax 07 307 0718
Email [3][email address]   |   Web [4]www.whakatane.govt.nz

The content of this email is CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION and may also be
LEGALLY PRIVILEGED, intended only for the person named above.
If this email is not addressed to you, you must not use, read, distribute
or copy this document.
If you have received this document by mistake, please call us on 0800
WDCICT and destroy the original message. Thank you.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Nicoll Young On Behalf Of CSC Shared Calendar
Sent: Friday, 27 April 2012 2:56 p.m.
To: Janie Storey; Coral Hair; Charis Henton; Rebecca Hart
Subject: FW: Local Government Official Information and Meetings request:
Does the Whakatane District Council open its meetings with a prayer?

 

FYI, im not sure how council meetings are run, are you able to help?

 

 

Thanks

 

Nicoll Young

Customer Services Officer

 

WHAKATANE DISTRICT COUNCIL

Private Bag 1002

Whakatane 3158

 

phone 07 306 0500

ext 7408

fax 07 307 0718

e-mail [email address]

web http://www.whakatane.govt.nz

**********************************************

The content of this email is CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION

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person named above. If this email is not addressed to you, you

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received this document by mistake, please call us on

0800 WDCICT and destroy the original message. Thank you.

-----Original Message-----
From: Alex Harris [mailto:[OIA #197 email]]
Sent: Friday, 27 April 2012 11:36 a.m.
To: CSC Shared Calendar
Subject: Local Government Official Information and Meetings request: Does
the Whakatane District Council open its meetings with a prayer?

 

     Dear Whakatane District Council,

    

     As you may have read recently, the Whanganui District Council

     abolished its opening prayer after a complaint was made to the

     Human Rights Commission. I'm interested in learning how widespread

     this practice is, so I'd like to request the following information

     under the LGOIMA:

    

     * Does the Council open its meetings with a prayer? * If the answer

     to the above is "yes", then I'd like a copy of that prayer (or

     examples, if more than one is used), when the practice was first

     established, whether the council has considered abolishing it in

     the wake of the Whanganui decision, and any advice the council may

     hold on the prayer's compatibility with both the Human Rights Act

     1993 and Bill of Rights Act 1990.

    

     I would prefer to receive an electronic response. Queries about

     this request will be automatically forwarded to me by the

     fyi.org.nz website.

    

     Yours faithfully,

    

     Alex Harris

    

    

     -------------------------------------------------------------------

     Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be

     published on the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:

     http://fyi.org.nz/help/about#officers

    

     Please use this email address for all replies to this request:

     [OIA #197 email]

    

    

     Is [Whakatane District Council request email] the wrong address for Local

     Government Official Information and Meetings requests to Whakatane

     District Council?

    

     If so please contact us using this form:

     http://fyi.org.nz/help/contact

    

    

     If you find FYI useful as an OIA officer, please ask your web

     manager to suggest us on your organisation's OIA page.

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