Understanding true partnership

Te Runanganui o Ngati Porou chief executive George Reedy. Picture by Paul Rickard

In her summary Te Tiriti o Waitangi — New Zealand's founding document — author Claudia Orange wrote that the Treaty was meant to be a partnership between Māori and the British Crown.

“Although it was intended to create unity, different understandings of the Treaty, and breaches of it, have caused conflict,” she said.

“From the 1970s the public gradually came to know more about the Treaty, and efforts to honour the Treaty and its principles expanded.”

George Reedy, chief executive of Te Runanganui o Ngāti Porou, said honouring te Tiriti meant respecting its intent at the time of its signing, “as opposed to the black letter of the law”.

Mr Reedy said debates continued in Aotearoa on what the intent of the words were when te Tiriti was first signed.

“For Māori we understand it was holistic, based on the broader conceptual definition of the language back in the day, not the English words written in the Treaty.

“So it's a sort of starting-from-that context.

“The Treaty provides a framework and a platform for us to engage respectfully with each other.

“We should respect and acknowledge the intent at the time of its signing and that, I think, is probably the starting point for how to be a good tangata Tiriti.”

Kupu Taea (Media and Te Tiriti Project) researcher Jenny Rankine is a specialist in internet racism.

She said tangata Tiriti referred to people who were aware of what Te Tiriti o Waitangi meant and acknowledged tino rangatiratanga (Māori sovereignty).

“It's a big thing because the government operates on the English version of te Tiriti, which says Māori gave up their sovereignty to the British Crown, which is not true.

“Tangata Tiriti are people who acknowledge Māori signed te Tiriti to enable non-Māori to live in Aotearoa peacefully as long as they understood Māori authority.”

Dr Rankine said she identified herself as tangata Tiriti and that the title was not automatically assumed, it was earned.

“As a tangata Tiriti, I work against racism for Māori, especially when it is institutional. The other thing I do is support te Tiriti-led structural changes.

“For example, the National Collective of Independent Women's Refuge has a te Tiriti-based structure — a tauiwi part (run by and for non-Māori women) and a tangata whenua part (run by and for Māori women). In it, the tauiwi part is accountable to the tangata whenua part.

“Another example is the Anglican Church. It has three houses — tangata whenua, tagata Pasifika and tauiwi. The Church as a whole is organised structurally according to te Tiriti and our relationship with the Pacific.”

Accountancy firm BDO Gisborne director Kylee Potae said the company was on a journey to better understand how a true Tiriti-led partnership might look in practice.

“It's really interesting to me that some people think they can incorporate some things Māori into their businesses and think they are in partnership.

“I believe partnership is when Māori are sitting at the decision-making table with them. It's not ‘here's the way of the world and how you would flavour it up to be Māori'. It's actually about making us (Māori) a part of the decision-making.”

Ms Potae said as both Pākehā and Māori, she could see the beauty in both cultures and she always had a view that her ancestor who signed te Tiriti intended to get the best of both worlds out of the process.

“Because of my two heritages — Pākehā and Māori — it's not about me and another, it's actually about me within myself, who's wanting to see both sides of myself celebrated.”

Ms Potae said she had seen positive change in Aotearoa but the speed of change was debatable.

“I see a lot of appetite from people who want to welcome change but I also see a lot of fear. They question, ‘how does it impact them?', ‘what am I losing on this journey?'

“There is still a lot of institutional racism in New Zealand, which needs to be addressed.

“I think that comes about when you are thinking in groups. You have to be careful because institutional racism can come out without you even realising it's there.

“Before you know it, you are supporting actions that are not conducive to a true partnership.

“The way iwi engage with the Government now heightens the whole thing because they are saying we don't just want a policy rolled out from a ministry for review and feedback. Instead, we want to develop the policy with you.

“In businesses this dialogue is hidden a bit more. For small businesses, a partnership can be easier, but in big businesses there can be a tendency to be ‘colonised' in their way of thinking due to their scale, and there's a bigger challenge to overcome there.”

Former Gisborne Mayor and Race Relations Commissioner Meng Foon said a responsible tangata Tiriti was someone who upheld Te Tiriti o Waitangi — encouraged the Crown to ensure that whānau Māori's health and education are looked after and Māori culture, rights, land and language were protected.

In Tairāwhiti and wider Aotearoa, te Tiriti was being upheld but change was slow, and he said the Government needed to do more.

“Some steps have been taken, like Māori seats on councils, giving Maōri decision rights through the Resource Management Act, formation of a new Māori Health Authority, and having Matariki (Māori new year) as an indigenous ‘tangata whenua' day.

“People are actually looking for ways to activate te Tiriti.”

Mr Foon said examples of te Tiriti being upheld in Tairāwhiti were the museum and Gisborne District Council.

“The museum has a co-governance board consisting of iwi, and the council has some agreements for shared decision-making with Te Runanganui o Ngāti Porou.

“I can see that Māori businesses will be the largest and most influential in Aotearoa in years to come. They are already very large now, such as Mangatū Blocks, Wi Pere Trust, and Whangara Farms.

“It's a journey we are on and we can always do more.”

Mahia-based veteran Māori broadcaster and journalist Derek Fox said the responsibility for tangata Tiriti was to recognise and understand the custom and culture of Aotearoa.

“People from other countries have that expectation. If we visit their country we would respect their culture and customs, so it's the same for Aotearoa.

“I encourage migrant groups to engage with and get to know and mix with Maori in their area. I'm certain such cultural interaction will have enormous benefits for us all.”

Mr Fox said in recent times he had seen a push to honour te Tiriti in a number of areas.

“One of them is te reo, where I am seeing people showing far more respect to and using the language in various media — multimedia, national radio, television — and I see that in other private media outlets. The Gisborne Herald may well be one of them where there is far more interest being shown in the coverage and treatment of kaupapa Māori perspectives than in the past.

“It is a substantial transformation.

“In most businesses and workplaces, there was also recognition of the way in which tangata whenua would do most things. There would be a mihi whakatū for welcoming a new employee and Matariki celebrations, for example.”

Mr Fox said in recent times there had been a shift to more contemporary Waitangi Tribunal claims against the Crown.

“There is a recent claim against the Crown for not acting quickly and appropriately in the roll-out of vaccines. Once upon a time, the focus was on land, fisheries and forests.

“It is an interesting development and we need to see what comes out of that.

“It is now not just about the Crown's obligation towards the whenua alone. It is also about the Crown's obligations to people.”