Mana leader Hone Harawira

175 years after the signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, Ngapuhi stands poised to play a pivotal role in what the treaty might mean for the next 175 years.

And that is hugely important because while government has already signed ‘full and final’ deals with most iwi, including the big ones like Tainui, Ngai Tahu and Ngati Porou, they can’t say treaty settlements are over until they bring the biggest tribe to the table.

Once Ngapuhi signs, the Crown will be able to say they have settled all major iwi claims, and that the Treaty has finally achieved the status conferred upon it by Chief Justice Prendergast in 1877 … that it is now ‘null and void’ and that it will slowly but surely be downgraded in New Zealand law. Such is the frightening future for the Treaty that the government is already putting into action.

For Maori though, holding on to the Treaty means holding fast to traditional practices, guardianship of resources, recognition of sovereignty, shared management of the nation’s assets, and genuine partnership in local and national governance.

Hapu and iwi have the right to seek justice for the wrongs committed, redress for those wrongs and compensation for their losses. Too much loss has been suffered, too much pain inflicted, and too much poverty created for Maori not to seek redress.

But, even in the best of times, any honest Maori will tell you that the Treaty settlement process we have is set up to enable there to be only one real winner – the Crown.

Government alone laid down the parameters of the debate, set up the Waitangi Tribunal to hear claims, defined the powers of the Tribunal, decides who can sit on the Tribunal, specified the terms of the

hearings process, says which lands are available for claim and which ones aren’t, set a 3% ceiling on all claims, outlined the requirements claimants must meet before negotiations start, included a ‘full and final’ clause in all settlements with no right of appeal, and established a process that pitted hapu and iwi against one another and created disputes that may take generations to resolve.

The desire of hapu and iwi to seek quick resolution so that settlement resources can be used for development is understandable, and even though they know the offer doesn’t match what was taken they also know it’s the only offer they’ve had in the last 170 years and it’ll be the only offer their mokopuna will see in the next 170 years. You can’t help but be impressed by their determination to engage in a process that is so ruthlessly engineered against them, and you have to admire the perseverance, humility, courage and determination of those who brought their settlements to conclusion.

But I don’t think our tupuna signed Te Tiriti o Waitangi in 1840 so that ‘full and final’ settlement would be reached in 2015, or that Te Tiriti would become ‘null and void’ when the settlement process was over, or that the promise of partnership raised during the debates of the time would be ended at the signing of a Deed of Settlement.

And that’s why Ngapuhi’s role is so critical to the future of Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

As I predicted last year, the government has given the mandate to settle the myriad claims of Ngapuhi hapu and whanau, to Tuhoronuku, the entity set up and run by Te Runanga o Ngapuhi.

But the big question is whether or not Ngapuhi is ready to settle, or wants to settle under the deeply unfair terms that government has imposed, or even wants to settle under Tuhoronuku itself.

With guidance from Kotahitanga, the hapu based collective opposed to the mandate going to Tuhoronuku, Ngapuhi hapu and whanau have for some years now been engaged in a series of landmark hearings into Ngapuhi sovereignty, and historical Ngapuhi claims, claims which Tuhoronuku has had no hand in helping to organise or run.

And those hearings have been some of the greatest hui in modern Ngapuhi history, with kaumatua and kuia digging into musty cupboards to pull out notes, waiata, haka, speeches, karakia, genealogical records, flags, weapons and photographs, and calling upon their own remarkable memories to present a wonderful and powerful statement about Ngapuhi’s diverse histories to the Waitangi Tribunal. And that has led to the creation of a deep historical record of Ngapuhi interaction with the Pakeha and the Crown that never existed before.

And those hearings have seen more Ngapuhi gather than at any other event in recent history, drawing in thousands and thousands of descendants to sit and listen to testimony never before presented in public.

And before those hearings have even finished a book has already been written about that history from a hapu-based perspective called Ngapuhi Speaks, a book which has been eagerly snapped up by claimants, as well as by academics, government officials, lawyers and even judges, all keen to get an understanding of the mindset of those who have lived longest with Te Whakaputanga o Niu Tireni (the Declaration of Independence of New Zealand) and Te Tiriti o Waitangi (the Treaty of Waitangi).

And following the first round of hearings, the Waitangi Tribunal itself has now released its own landmark ruling stating that “Ngapuhi never ceded sovereignty”, an incredibly important statement not only for Ngapuhi but for New Zealand generally.

And yet the need to settle, to get hands on some cash to compensate for historical theft of lands and cultural destruction, is an overpowering force that government is only too happy to push and that iwi leaders find difficult to resist.

But the fact is that until the hearings have finished, Ngapuhi simply will not have within its hands the complete historical record on which to base its claim.

And given the continued divisions between Kotahitanga and Tuhoronuku, Ngapuhi is simply not able to call on all of its talented descendants to help drive a future for the generations yet to come.

And if there needed to be anything else to warn Ngapuhi away from settling under the current, inequitable and suffocating terms imposed by the Crown, then the Waitangi Tribunal ruling that ‘Ngapuhi never ceded sovereignty’ should be enough.

Settlement has its place, but the drive to settle when the terms are clearly stacked aga

inst the claimants, and the structure through which any settlement is managed does not enjoy wide support, means that Ngapuhi has every reason to ask that the process be set aside for a while.

It’s been 175 years since the signing of the Treaty. It won’t hurt to say to the government “taihoa – there are issues that we need to sort out before we come back to the table”

And I repeat what I said last year. Ngapuhi’s success needs Te Runanga a Iwi o Ngapuhi – to nurture, protect and build on the symbolical authority of the Ngapuhi ethos, and to be the voice for the tens of thousands right across the world who are proud to be Ngapuhi without knowing much more than that. And equally, it needs the vibrant energy of Te Kotahitanga o Nga Hapu o Ngapuhi because they give life to the saying Ngapuhi Kowhao Rau (Ngapuhi of a hundred holes), because they represent the whanau who have kept the home fires burning and because they provide the gathering place for the hapu that are the traditional power base of Ngapuhi.

I do not hold to the view that Tuhoronuku has the mandate because they skipped down a pathway set down by the Crown, but neither do I support the call for Tuhoronuku to be dumped in favour of Kotahitanga.

Hone Harawira
MANA
Hone Harawira is descended from one, and named after another, of those who signed both Te Whakaputanga o Niu Tireni (the Declaration of Independence of New Zealand) and Te Tiriti o Waitangi (the Treaty of Waitangi).