Waitangi Tribunal process 'healing' for Māori

Wednesday, 6 October 2021

The Porirua ki Manawatū Waitangi tribunal hearing resumes next week.

Going through the Waitangi Tribunal process can be healing for Māori who have suffered historic injustice and restore their mana.

The Porirua ki Manawatū district inquiry resumes next week, the eighth of 12 weeks of hearings, where the Ngāti Raukawa iwi confederation claims thousands of hectares of land between Manawatū and Kāpiti were taken from Māori historically.

At the hearings Māori have outlined how colonisation has affected them through health, land loss, loss of culture and language, and pollution of land and waterways. The settlement process is designed to redress historical breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi.

Areti Metuamate, a member of Ngāti Kauwhata and Ngāti Raukawa who is helping advise the claims, said the process was significant.

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“As with any partnership or relationship, it is important to have an avenue [or] avenues for addressing pain and trauma.

“And where we know a partnership has been unequal or where there has been abuse or neglect or tension, it is only natural to want to make things right. “

Areti Metuamate taking part in a protest urging Manawatū District Council to reconsider its position on Māori wards in May.

He said treaty claims should be respected and completed.

“We simply cannot look ourselves in the mirror as a society and feel proud to be Kiwis or New Zealanders unless we openly and actively address the pain and suffering experienced by tangata whenua.

“The treaty claims process is an important way to help this happen.”

It is the first time Ngāti Kauwhata has been able to speak in front of the tribunal.

Metuamate said Manawatū had a poor history of Māori being heard by councils and the Government, but hoped their voices would be more respectfully considered by the Waitangi Tribunal.

An example was in May this year when a group of iwi protested the Manawatū District Council’s initial decision not to introduce a Māori ward at next year's elections.

He said a key part of the treaty settlement process was restoring the mana of hapū and iwi, so it was vitally important for iwi to have their history acknowledged as central to the story of the region.

“Our region has been built on the back of a rather painful story for many Māori and that story must be told.

“It’s not to say there are not many positive things about our region, but let’s not kid ourselves that everything has been rosy.”

He said the historic injustices iwi faced were important to the story of them and the region.

A major benefit of the treaty settlement process was hapū and iwi had their mana restored and were given back certain leadership rights in the region.

University of Canterbury lecturer Martin Fisher said the tribunal process was “incredibly healing” for iwi.

Having the resources to support their people was another big benefit, using settlement money to provide education scholarships, build homes for the elderly, restore marae and create programmes to improve water quality.

University of Canterbury lecturer Martin Fisher researches histories of Crown-Māori interactions and the Treaty of Waitangi claims process.

He said many iwi went straight to negotiations rather than going through the tribunal hearings, but the process was “incredibly healing”.

“The Waitangi Tribunal, it is part of the healing. It’s maybe the first time they have got somebody from the Crown sitting there and listening.

“I think that is the big, big difference, because they have just been ignored for seven, eight generations.”

He said the hearings could educate the Crown and local pākēha on the history of the iwi and the area because a lot of the evidence hadn’t been heard.

“No matter where you go, you have different experiences, but in the end Māori have mainly ended up all in the same place: a loss of connection to their culture and land, pollution of the waterways and a loss of economic opportunities.”

He said Waikato Tainui and Ngāi Tahu were among the top two or three iwi today because they had settled with the Crown early.

“You’ve got these economic opportunities. It doesn’t mean everybody is all of a sudden OK and everybody can speak te reo.

“It’s been 24 years since Ngāi Tahu settled and I think we need to give it maybe two generations before you're going to see the serious social issues come right like home ownership, income inequality, people in prison.”