On 20 November, more than 3000 Samoans were given justice for the wrong that was done in 1982 by way of a racist law that stripped citizenship from Samoans.

Early this year, New Zealand’s Green Party MP Teanau Tuiono drafted a member’s bill and it was picked from a ballot. That was the event that changed the course of history and rewrote the wrongs done to many Samoans.

Tuiono hails from the island of Atiu in the Cook Islands and has no Samoan connection through blood.

Why would he do this then?

“It was racist. I was born and raised in Auckland and I have seen and felt a lot of my friends go through the dawn raids and the injustices done were not right,” he told the Samoa Observer.

“The law has been passed and gives some relief to our Samoan elders who were mistreated.”

The new law means that Samoans born between 1924 and 1948 are now eligible for New Zealand citizenship. If their applications are successful, their visa fee is also refunded.

This allows Samoans in the age group between 76 and 100 years, access to better medication.

The fact that Tuiono ended up getting not only unanimous support for the bill but reaching consensus, even with the likes of the National Party, should not go unnoticed.

We should be proud of what he's achieved for the Pacific community. He has done a huge service to the community this year, relentlessly fighting for what he believes is right.

Many in the past have tried and failed to get the Samoan citizenship bill as far as Tuiono did. Many people have dreamed of achieving what Tuiono was able to.

This is why Tuiono deserves to be a Person of the Year.

After the bill had passed the first reading, there was support from people like Anae Arthur Anae and Aupito William Sio to get the support needed to pass the bill.

After the bill became law, Aupito said the right thing to do to honour Tuiono would be to confer a matai title on him because he made it possible for many Samoans to get justice.

“I have never thought about. I guess if that ever happens, I would have to learn the cultural aspects of being a matai, but I did not do this for that. It is about getting justice,” Tuiono said.

He also does not believe the he is the one who started this fight. He said he just found a way of getting it done.

The journey began in 1978 when Falema'i Lesa, a hotel cook in Wellington, was arrested by immigration officers.

They claimed she had no right to live in New Zealand.

Supported by immigration lawyers, Lesa fought her case all the way to the Privy Council, New Zealand's highest court at the time.

In 1982, the Privy Council ruled that Samoans born between 1924 and 1948 were British subjects and therefore entitled to New Zealand citizenship.

But that same year, the Muldoon government enacted the Citizenship (Western Samoa) Act, which nullified the decision.

In 2003, Anae led protests in New Zealand and Samoa.