Police have no plans to prevent breaches

Police and health agencies have no plans to prevent breaches of level three rules at tangi after 100 people turned up to a burial in North Canterbury on Thursday.

About 100 people gathered at Tuahiwi Urupa¯ to pay their respects to popular marae speaker Jimmy Brennan, despite a limit of 10 people under level three coronavirus restrictions.

Brennan died on March 29 and his wha¯ nau had his body embalmed during the level four lockdown. They decided to proceed with a limited tangi after the country moved into level three. The grieving wha¯ nau had asked people to watch a livestream of the event at home instead of coming to the tangi, but their requests were ignored by some.

Woodend police Inspector Peter Cooper said officers were aware the tangi for Brennan was happening, but did not think there would be any breaches. He said police were reporting breaches to the Ministry of Health and taking its advice on how to respond.

A Ministry of Health spokeswoman said police and health authorities were working together on a case-by-case basis to enforce Covid19 restrictions at funerals and tangi.

The Tuahiwi gathering was an isolated incident, and the ministry was satisfied the wha¯nau involved had made genuine efforts to restrict the gathering, she said.

Canterbury medical officer of health Cheryl Brunton said it was up to police to investigate lockdown breaches and take any required enforcement action.

Canterbury District Health Board Ma¯ ori and Pacific executive director Hector Matthews, who is a friend of the Brennan family, said Canterbury Public Health would monitor the Tuahiwi community carefully.

‘‘Hopefully there will be no [coronavirus] spread from this.’’

He said the breach was an unfortunate aberration as most people would follow the rules for tangi and funerals, but there was a risk of further breaches. ‘‘Level three is really hard and I think most accept that, but there are always those who don’t.’’

Tuahiwi hapu¯ upoko (leader) Dr Te Marie Tau said none of those who breached the rules were from the hapu¯ village. ‘‘The people from our pa¯ know the rules and stayed home. Those who turned up on the street and the road were just nonsense from the city.’’

Tau said the marae and pa¯ would be open only to grieving families for future tangi, but they could not control people standing on the roadside.

‘‘The village knows this, the pa¯ knows this and obviously people from outside don’t know our customs and traditions but that’s the same as people lining up at McDonald’s — you just can’t account for stupidity.’’

Associate Minister of Health (Ma¯ ori Health) Peeni Henare said iwi and other Ma¯ ori organisations had been communicating the Covid-19 guidelines to their communities through social media. Henare said the 1918 influenza pandemic rolled through his wha¯nau’s community ‘‘like wildfire’’ after a tangi went ahead against the guidelines, leading to his grandmother’s death.