Advocates now calling for the Crown to do more to redress this collective loss to hapū from our “stolen generation”.
For the last two weeks the public has heard testimony from survivors, witnesses and former staff who were at the Lake Alice Child and Adolescent unit in the 1970s – almost half of whom were Māori.
Their stories of abuse detailed how the trauma at the hands of the state, alongside being disconnected from their culture, has left a mark that is being felt by their children and grandchildren.