On Friday, July 16. 2021 at 6 pm for invitees
Pancha Narayanan
Wellington, July 12, 2021
At the request of Rangatira (community leaders) around the country, Multicultural New Zealand (MNZ) is holding an urgent national hui to listen to the concerns around some of the Covid-19 related immigration policies causing mental health issues and family separation.
The hui will be held online as Webinar on Friday, July 16, 2021 at 6 pm NZT.
Participation is by invitation being sent by MNZ.
Ethnic communities devastated
Last week, Immigration New Zealand (INZ) announced that they were cancelling visitor visas, including those of partners living in New Zealand.
This follows a decision in 2019 by INZ to grant a visitor visa for individuals in culturally arranged marriages instead of a Partnership Visa.
This is having a devastating impact on New Zealand’s iwi taketake communities.
Covid border closures and travel bans have already put huge strain on parents, partners, families and communities. This is impacting on hundreds of thousands of people.
New Zealand’s communities are in crisis.
Pleas for action
MNZ is receiving numerous pleas for action. We need Immigration to answer for these incomprehensible changes to granting various types of visas.
In June 2021, MNZ put out a nationwide survey to gain perspective on the impacts of travel bans and family separation. The data showed critical impacts on mental health and functionality. These are our doctors, nurses, police, engineers, IT specialists, teachers, chefs.
When people who manage our safety, health, and other aspects of our daily lives cannot perform their responsibilities, this becomes the whole nation’s problem and we urgently need to address it.
MNZ is hosting this national zoom conference with community leaders from around the motu.
Pancha Narayanan is President of Multicultural New Zealand based on Wellington. This story has been sponsored by
