Teremoana Yala

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Teremoana Yala MNZM is a Cook Islander activist and diplomat.

Biography

Yala worked as Chief Administration Officer for the Cook Islands High Commission in Wellington, New Zealand for 14 years. [1] In 2016, she was appointed as the Cook Islands High Commissioner to New Zealand, succeeding Tekaotiki Matapo. [1] [2] [3] Yala was not the first woman to be appointed to the position as Te Tika Mataiapo Dorice Reid was appointed in 2011 but passed away before assuming her appointment. [4] [5] Yala is the first woman to have taken up the office. [5]

Yala attended the inaugural gathering of representatives from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) community and the Pacific Islands Heads of Mission group (PIHOM) in Wellington, New Zealand. [6]

Yala has encouraged Maori to embrace Cook Island language dialects, including promoting Cook Islands language week [7] [8] [9] and co-producing the educational language film project E Reo Nuku. [10] She has also helped revive the Cook Islands Manawatu Association, started a weekly Tivaevae group for Cook Islands women and supported the establishment of a World War I Pacific war memorial. [1]

In May 2022, Yala was appointed as a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) for "services to the Cook Islands community." [1] [11] [12]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Yala honoured for services to community". Cook Islands News . 10 May 2022. Retrieved 2 August 2025.
  2. ↑ "New High Commissioner". Cook Islands News. 18 August 2020. Retrieved 2 August 2025.
  3. ↑ "Rarotonga expansion trims fire engines". Cook Islands News. 18 August 2020. Retrieved 2 August 2025.
  4. ↑ "Te Tika memorial". Cook Islands News. Archived from the original on 31 August 2011. Retrieved 2 August 2025.
  5. 1 2 Newport, Christina; Gonschor, Lorenz; Mutu, Margaret; Clegg, Peter; Young, Forrest Wade; Ratuva, Steven (2017). "Polynesia in Review: Issues and Events, 1 July 2015 to 30 June 2016" (PDF). The Contemporary Pacific. 29 (1). University of Hawai‘i Press: 127. JSTOR   26407846.
  6. ↑ "CI builds on Southeast Asian ties". Cook Islands News. 18 August 2020. Retrieved 2 August 2025.
  7. ↑ "Forget the fear with the reo...it's Cook Islands language week". RNZ. 1 August 2016. Retrieved 2 August 2025.
  8. ↑ ""Embrace the reo" - Cooks' High Commissioner". RNZ. 1 August 2016. Archived from the original on 15 August 2022. Retrieved 2 August 2025.
  9. ↑ "Cooks language survival down to the youth". RNZ. 8 August 2016. Archived from the original on 15 August 2022. Retrieved 2 August 2025.
  10. ↑ Pasifika, Tagata (25 August 2022). "Educational filmmakers triumph for Kuki Airani Reo". Cook Islands News. Archived from the original on 29 February 2024. Retrieved 2 August 2025.
  11. ↑ Solomon, Sian (31 December 2021). "Yala recognised in New Year's honours". Cook Islands News. Archived from the original on 15 February 2025. Retrieved 2 August 2025.
  12. ↑ "Pacific people shine in New Year's Honours". Ministry for Pacific Peoples. Retrieved 2 August 2025.
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