New Zealand to apologise for 1970s infamous Dawn Raids

Pacific Peoples’ Minister Aupito William Sio, left, and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. Pic/PTI

Aupito William Sio recalled the terrifying day during his childhood when police officers holding German shepherd dogs turned up at his family home before dawn and shined flashlights into their faces while his father stood there helpless.

Now the minister for Pacific peoples, Sio, and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced Monday the government would formally apologise for an infamous part of the nation's history known as the Dawn Raids.

It's when Pacific Island people were targeted for deportation in the mid-1970s during aggressive home raids by authorities to find, convict and deport overstayers. The raids often took place very early in the morning or late at night.

"We felt as a community that we were invited to come to New Zealand. We responded to the call to fill the labor workforce that was needed, in the same way we responded to the call for soldiers in 1914," Sio said at a news conference. He said the government then turned on the Pasifika community when it felt those workers were no longer needed.

"The raids, and what they represented, created deep wounds," Ardern said. "And while we cannot change our history, we can acknowledge it, and we can seek to right a wrong." The formal apology will be held at a commemoration event on June 26 in Auckland.

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