“If you live in Aotearoa you’re either Tangata Whenua or you’re Tangata Tiriti - here thanks to the welcome laid out at Waitangi in 1840.
“The Treaty is our foundation as a nation and the positive relationship it promises is what our speakers will be focussing on over four Thursday nights in Napier and Hastings,” Gordon says.
“These four talks are for everyone but particularly those keen to hear how the Treaty is key to New Zealand’s harmonious future.
“There might be bumps in the road but the younger generation especially understands the path we’re on and why honouring Te Tiriti is not just the right thing to do, it’s inevitable and is in fact, the only way forward.
“As Pakeha, when we speak up for Te Tiriti, we’re both acknowledging we’ve not held up the end of the bargain settlers struck and saying it’s not too late to put that right. If we’re honest with ourselves, we won’t stand comfortably on this land until we do.”
Judd’s June 13 talk at St Paul’s Presbyterian Church in Napier will discuss what it means to be Tangata Tiriti and how Tangata Tiriti can be proactive.
The audience will have the opportunity to put forward written questions to be addressed during a panel discussion on each of the four evenings.
The series continues fortnightly on Thursdays. On June 27 at St Matthew’s church in Hastings, where veteran community campaigner Denis O’Reilly from Waiohiki and Central Hawke’s Bay author Mary Kippenberger will help the audience lift their eyes to the future with a talk called ‘Imagining Matariki 2050′.
On July 11 at St Paul’s in Napier, the topic is ‘What does honouring the Treaty look like?’.
The panel that night is Hawke’s Bay Regional Councillor Martin Williams, Aucklander Kirsty Fong of Asians Supporting Tino Rangatiratanga and Napier-based Treaty educator and podcaster Gwyn John.
The series concludes with ‘Living a Treaty-based future – a youth perspective’ at St Matthew’s in Hastings on July 25.
Speakers at the youth night include Te Uranga Lee Belk and Piripi Winiata of Hastings firm Kawea Law and Layla Christison, a recent graduate of the University of Auckland Bachelor of Health Sciences who now works for Te Kura i Awarua Rangahau Māori Centre at EIT.
The series’ organising team include Napier City Councillor Maxine Boag, Sustainable Hawke’s Bay communications co-ordinator Nick Ratcliffe, Napier event organiser Neill Gordon, Ani Tylee of Napier and Marilyn Scott of Hastings.
Boag said the kaupapa of the talks is “how we as tauiwi (non-Māori) can stand up as Treaty partners”.
“We have chosen our speakers very carefully as people who know and understand the Treaty, racism and colonisation our nation is built on. We do not want to lean on Maori, they are very involved in their kotahitanga and we want to inform and strengthen Tangata Tiriti sufficiently to stand beside them.”
Organisations supporting the free lecture series are the Waipureku Waitangi Trust, Sustainable Hawke’s Bay, Tangata Tiriti Aotearoa, St Matthew’s Anglican Church and St Paul’s Presbyterian Church.
Details:
Free Thursday lecture series. All nights doors open at 6.30 for tea and cake, talks start at 7pm and finish at 9pm.
June 13, St Paul’s Tennyson Street Napier, Standing up as Treaty Partners, Andrew Judd. MC: Nick Ratcliffe of Sustainable HB
June 27, St Matthew’s King St Sth, Hastings, Imagining Matariki 2050, Denis O’Reilly and Mary Kippenberger. MC: the Rev. Jill McDonald
July 11, St Paul’s, What does honouring the Treaty look like?, Martin Williams, Kirsty Fong and Gywn John. MC: Napier City Councillor Hayley Browne
July 25, St Matthew’s, Living a Treaty-based future – a youth perspective, Te Uranga Lee Belk, Piripi Winiata, Layla Christison and others to be confirmed. MC: Nick Ratcliffe
Website: https://tta.org.nz
Email: ttaotearoa@gmail.com
