The Treaty of Waitangi is a sacred covenant not a political football - Rev Rangi Nicholson

The inside of the Anglican Church in Otaki shows its Māori heritage. Photos / Rosalie Willis

OPINION

Like it or not the Treaty has become front and centre for all New Zealanders and one of the more unexpected side effects is that Act leader David Seymour has prompted Pākehā Kiwis to think about how they feel about it.

This is according to one columnist, who said most middle-class Pākehā would not have thought much about the treaty - not out of indifference but because they did not want to say the wrong thing, or thought it wasn’t their place to have an opinion on it.

After hearing Seymour say that Kiwis want a proper debate the columnist says that’s not necessary. She rejects the insinuation that most Kiwis feel a kind of simmering low level resentment towards the Treaty as being unfair.

I agree because it’s important to be educated on Treaty issues.

Rev Dr Rangi Nicholson.

Pākehā and Māori will get an opportunity to find out more about the nation’s founding document at an event to be held at the historic Rangiātea Church on Waitangi Day. The event will see all people taking a step in the right direction towards a better understanding of the Treaty and the partnership. It is the hope of the organisers that other churches will hold similar collaborative events throughout Aotearoa.

This is the fifth year that Ōtaki’s Māori and Pākehā Anglican church communities have gathered together for worship and praise, refreshments and Treaty conversations.

This year the key event will be the presentation by myself and Hamish Maclean. Maclean recently wrote a paper on the Treaty which says the document should be seen more as a covenant than a legal contract. This is in line with how Māori view the Treaty and he suggests is closer to what the original signees may have envisaged. In his paper he will outline the definition of a covenant and its spiritual connotations.

Supporting this theme are Anglican churches throughout Aotearoa New Zealand which will increasingly come under considerable scrutiny. The churches were a major part of the overall Treaty foundation process.

Both Ōtaki churches stand on land given to the Anglican missionaries by the local iwi, Ngāti Raukawa, as does the field that separates them. This land is now leased by the Otaki and Porirua Trusts Board – an iwi and Anglican Church entity – to the Māori university Te Wānanga o Raukawa, for educational purposes. That piece of history alone made the Ōtaki field on Te Rauparaha St a fitting spot for the two churches’ Waitangi Day to meet-up in their first two years.

Rangiātea Church, Ōtaki.

Pākehā and Māori parishes have allowed this partnership – a partnership marked by Treaty principles and our shared Gospel values – to drift off to the margins. However, while partnership is important so is covenantal friendship to bring us together.

I look to a future where not only do Māori Anglicans have the same or better levels of knowledge in Pākehā culture than they do today, but our Pākehā Anglican churches will also be able to uphold and support Māori culture, knowledge, history, self-understanding and use te reo Māori.

In that bicultural future every Anglican church would be open and able to use te Rreo Māori not only in worship, but at vestry meetings, in advertising, in writing reports and in any aspect of church life. It is a vision for the future.

Rev Dr Rangi Nicholson is priest and Minita-ā-Iwi, at Rangiātea Church, Ōtaki. He is an educator and a sociolinguist who has spent over 45 years working in the area of Māori language revitalisation. He has taught at four universities and worked with many tribal, church and government organisations on Māori language planning and policy issues.