While working as a telephone operator for New Zealand Post Office, Rangimārie was instructed to stop using "kia ora" when greeting callers after the post office had received a complaint. She refused to do so and was consequently demoted. Rangimārie's refusal to comply risked not only her job but her housing, as she lived in Post Office rented house at the time. She remembers, "as I was driving over the Harbour Bridge, I heard this voice in my ear: “Nui ake tenei take ia koe.” (This is far greater than you.) As if to say: ”Who do you think you are?... so I went to the supervisor and said: “You do what you have to do as my supervisor, and I will respect it. But I will do what I have to do as the child of my grandmother.” Then I went back and sat on the toll board and said: “Kia ora. Tolls here." Her refusal drew widespread support in a time where Māori language was not in as widespread of use. After the Prime Minister intervened she won, and on this day in 1984, the Postmaster General backed down, restoring her job. Following the incident, Rangimārie trained as a Māori language teacher before beginning a career as a Māori cultural advisor predominantly in the health sector. She also served in politics for the Māori party, and continues her work for support for Māori liberation. In a 2015 interview she stated her current goals, "But one goal is that my mokopuna — as many of my mokopuna as possible — can kōrero te reo. And another is that not one of them will ever go into the hands of CYFS. Not one. And that goes for my mokopuna tuarua as well."

Sparrow was arrested on this day in 1984 for fishing for King salmon with a drift net that was 20 fathoms longer than permitted according to Federal fisheries officers. Sparrow did not dispute the facts of the case but argued he, as a xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, had an inherent right to fish on his ancestral waters. Importantly, he made the argument under Section 35 of the Canadian constitution passed just two years earlier in 1982. His case dragged on for six years and he had to take it all the way to the Supreme Court after lower courts ruled against him including The B.C. Provincial Court, B.C. County Court and the B.C. Court of Appeals. In 1990 the R v Sparrow judgement finally came down affirming xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam’s) right to fish had not been extinguished and couldn’t be limited without clear justification. The case is important in Indigenous law as it affirms inherent aboriginal right to fish prior to the creation of 'Canada', and outside of any treaty rights. We celebrate Bud Sparrow's direct action of fishing under his own people's sovereignty which led to an eventual win for Indigenous peoples across Canada under the colonial courts.