All in News

Singaporean doctor dies in Hagley Park

Dr Husaini Abdul Hafiz, a 50-year-old doctor, who had immigrated to New Zealand from Singapore about nine years ago, collapsed and died in Hagley Park while on his way to work on February 13. A founding trustee of the Canterbury Muslim Community Trust (CMCT), Dr Husaini's death is not being treated as suspicious by the New Zealand Police and had been referred to the coroner. "Husaini will be greatly missed by the wider Muslim community of Christchurch for his leadership, enthusiasm and wise council," said CMCY in a social media post. 

Fiji community lose a dedicated nurse

The Canterbury Police, after completing scene examination of a shed fire on Tankerville Road in the Christchurch suburb of Hoon Hay have confirmed that the person found deceased in the incident that took place on February 9, 2017, was a 51-year-old woman named Savita Devi Naidu. Detective Senior Sergeant Mark Worner informed that the matter has now been referred to the Coroner. “There are no suspicious circumstances and Police are not seeking anyone else in connection with the death,” he added.

Two Indians stabbed during Domino's Bishopdale aggravated robbery

At approximately 10:10pm on February 13, Police received a report of an aggravated robbery at the Domino’s on Harewood Road, Bishopdale. Acting Detective Sergeant Simon Keith informed, "Two men who were heavily disguised have entered the store carrying a firearm and a knife. The two staff members working were threatened by these men and despite following the requests of the offenders, both were stabbed. One received serious but non-life-threatening wounds to the stomach and was transported to Christchurch Hospital, the other was treated at the scene. The offenders fled the store with an undisclosed sum of money."

Diversity: Christchurch Council adopts the Christchurch Multicultural Strategy

The Christchurch Multicultural Strategy 2017-2021 “Our Future Together” was adopted by the Christchurch City Council on February 9. Council Community Support Team Manager Claire Phillips noted, "It's a great opportunity to embrace and acknowledge the diversity factor in Christchurch and it shows that as a city we recognise the economic, social and cultural benefits that being a diverse city brings us."

Labour: Chch's Bahn Thai Restaurant to pay 25k for three categories of breaches of minimum code requirements

These include penalty for failure to provide written employment agreements, failure to keep holiday and leave records and failure to keep wage and time records. "The respondent is to pay a penalty to the Crown in the sum of $25,000 in respect of three categories of breaches of minimum code requirements, plus $71.56 to the Labour Inspectorate as reimbursement of its Authority lodgement fee," said David Appleton, member of the Employment Relations Authority, in his judgement dated December 16, 2016.

Award: Christchurch musician makes waves in India

Justin James, who moved to Christchurch from Kerala in India in 2008, and works as the Supply Chain Manager at Wimpex Ltd, is now one of the hottest property in the music business of India's regional Malayalam film industry. This after, 4 Musics - the music composing team of James and his three childhood friends - won the award for best music direction of 2016 for the regional movie Oppam on January 20, 2017. James, and his friends, are now working on four more confirmed projects, with many more in the pipeline.

Auckland Arts Festival: The Bone Feeder, an opera grounded in the experiences of early Chinese settlers and their interactions with Pākehā and Māori

The upcoming Auckland Arts Festival, which will run from 8 to 26 March, will feature the world première of a new New Zealand opera, The Bone Feeder. Staged from March 23 to 25, the opera is scored by Gareth Farr with libretto by poet and playwright Renee Liang, that explores the mysteries, traumas and gifts of migration, home and belonging. The Bone Feeder is inspired by the story of the SS Ventnor, which, in 1902, set out carrying the bones of nearly 500 Chinese men who had died in New Zealand. Tragically, the ship never made it. The Ventnor hit a rock off the Taranaki coast and eventually sank off the Hokianga Heads. However, the bones ultimately found a home on New Zealand shores, when they were recovered by the people of Mitimiti and respectfully buried.

New citizens: Waitangi Day Citizenship Ceremony 2017 held at Tuahiwi marae

This year, the Waitangi Day Citizenship Ceremony 2017 was held at the Tuahiwi marae in Waimakariri, in which 50 people - 12 from Waimakariri district and 38 from Christchurch, were granted their New Zealand citizenship.  The new citizens were from the UK, Fiji, India, Philippines, South Africa, Samoa, Poland, Ukraine, Germany, Korea, China, Slovenia, Malaysia, Romania, Nepal and the USA. Elaborating on the significance of this yearly tradition, Duncan Sandeman, Head of Civic and International Relations at the Office of the Chief Executive in Christchurch City Council informed, “On Waitangi Day the Christchurch City Council works with tangata whenua to hold a citizenship on a marae in order to demonstrate the commitment to the principle of the Treaty of Waitangi and to recognise the importance of Waitangi Day.”

Lunar New Year: Cultures of China, Festival of Spring - held in Christchurch

On February 7, the “Cultures of China, Festival of Spring” performance was held in the Royal Issac Theatre in Christchurch. Along with over a thousand overseas Chinese, those who attended included Chinese Consul General in Christchurch Jin Zhijian, Labour MP Megan Woods, Mayor David Ayers of Waimakariri District, Mayor Donna Favel of Ashburton District, Mayor Winton Dally of Hurunui District, and Christchurch City Councillor Jimmy Chen. During the two and half hour performance, 40 artists presented more than 20 programmes. Most notable among those were the “Face Changing” act of Sichuan Opera, the acrobatic “Balancing on Pipes” act, and singing performances by Yang Hongji and Yin Xiumei.

Cinema: French film festival at Hoyts Northlands

French is considered the language of love, and there is plenty of that among the more than 30 movies being screened at the 18-day Alliance Francaise French Film Festival, which starts at Hoyts Northlands on March 9. And one much-loved French actress is Catherine Deneuve, who will be featured in two films this year. They are a re-screening of the legendary 1964 musical, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, and a much more recent release, Standing Tall, in which Deneuve plays a youth-court magistrate who becomes a foster mother of a troubled teenager.

AGM: New office bearers for the Nepalese Society

The Canterbury Nepalese Society (CNS), which was established in 2015, held its Annual General Meeting on Monday, February 6, electing a new executive member committee. While Bishnu Pokhrel was re-elected as the President, and Bishal Sapkota as the Secretary, Dhurva Khanal and Khimananda Rijal have been given the responsibility of vice-presidentship of CNS this time around. The event also saw various traditional Nepalese dance performances followed by delicious Nepalese food.

PM meets demands: Extra police and more parliamentary private secretaries from ethnic communities to allay concerns of migrants

On February 2, Prime Minister announced that another 1125 police staff, including 880 sworn police officers, will be funded over the next four years to reduce crime and prevent reoffending. Also, the PM, noting the need to give ethnic communities a strong voice in the Government, has appointed several List MPs of ethnic origins as parliamentary private secretaries to assist ministers with ethnic communities and police portfolios.  

Opera: Lansdown Narropera to feature German opera singers

Two outstanding German singers will perform in this year’s Gala of German Opera, which is part of the annual Lansdown Narropera Festival held at 132 Old Tai Tapu Road between February 12 and March 26.

They include the soprano Dorothee Jansen, who is the wife of Christchurch’s Haydn Rawstron, who created the concept of narrating the story of an opera during the presentation of its most significant arias.

Personal liability means no escape from paying staff, says Labour Inspectorate

The Labour Inspectorate has successfully applied to have ‘company officers’ made personally liable for $138,836 in arrears over the last month, after the companies went into liquidation. One case was when wife of a Nando’s franchisee, Corrado Ramada, was found liable in November for the $70,053 in arrears that the company owed in unpaid wages and holiday pay, when the company was liquidated and the director was declared bankrupt. Another case was of the Indian retail clothing stores Khoobsurat Collections/ Naari Collections.

Education: India tops the offshore students visa rejection numbers with 8818 in 2016

Immigration New Zealand has published the offshore student visa approval rates for 2016 on their website indicating that India had an approval rate of 46 percent with 7562 visas accepted and 8818 rejections. This easily tops the rejection numbers as the next on list is China with only 649 rejections. The country had an approval rate of 93 percent with 8194 students coming to New Zealand to study from China last year. Third and fourth on the list are the Philippines and Bangladesh with 473 and 418 rejections respectively. While Philippines had an approval rate of 72 percent, Bangladesh had a much lower rate of only 23 percent.

Migrants: New Zealand is benefitting from immigration, says New Zealand Initiative

New Zealand is benefitting from immigration a new report by The New Zealand Initiative says. It also found that the current immigration policy settings are broadly fit-for-purpose, but policymakers should be vigilant to ensure this remains the case.

Launched on January 30, The New New Zealanders: Why migrants make good Kiwis looks at the many people who are choosing to make New Zealand their home, and the effect they have on our society.