Growing up in Canterbury, Ngārie Scartozzi (Ngāti Porou) recalls swimming in rivers and visiting mahinga kai (food resource spots) to eel and fish as part of her childhood. When she returned to settle in the region after years in Australia, however, she noticed things had changed.
“Some of the places where you could swim before now have signs saying ‘polluted water, do not swim’,” she says. “I went to take my kids to places to swim and we couldn’t because these signs were up. That was a real eye-opener for me when I got back, and I was like, ‘What? What happened?’”
Although the experience was sad and surprising, it has also served as fuel for the Christchurch-based entrepreneur, who’s now on a mission
