New Zealand ‘to be a much better country’ for legal protection of Māori treasures and knowledge

The recent launch of a movement to protect Māori treasures and knowledge - the latest step in a decades-old challenge to the Crown - is calling for engagement from those who need legislation to protect their taonga.

Kaikohe’s Kohewhata Marae buzzed at the weekend as a decades-old challenge to the Crown marked an exciting step forward.

Political leaders, kaitiaki (guardians) and revered kaumātua of te ao Māori (the Māori world) gathered for the launch of Tiaki Taonga, a movement to foster understanding and engagement with the kaupapa of taonga (treasures) and protection of mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge).

“I think today represents the beginning of the beginning,” said Te Rarawa’s Haami Piripi on Saturday.

“What today is doing is reinvigorating people’s interest [in Wai 262], regenerating their involvement and reactivating their inspiration.”

The movement, which was launched by Wai 262 - known as the flora, fauna and intellectual property rights claim - will also become the legislative framework which was sought through the claim made to Waitangi Tribunal in 1991.

The claim requested a process for an ethical framework for resolution of the issues involving taonga Māori and implicates more than 20 government departments and agencies.

Its roots reach much further to the 1960s and 70s, when a group of Māori rights activists challenged the Crown on policies and laws that were eroding Māori control over taonga.

Sheridan Waitai (Ngāti Kuri, Te Rarawa, Tainui) has been working on the claim most of her life.

“We seek to walk in the aspirations of our tūpuna [ancestors],” said Waitai, whose grandmother Saana Waitai-Murray was one of the six original claimants.

As a Wai 262 Taumata Whakapūmau member, she said the launch was “very exciting”.

“This is the big overarching framework we anticipate the Crown to adopt. This will frame and have a trickle-down effect into the practical application.”

Waitai said Tiaki Taonga was about “constitutional change to fully recognise kaitiakitanga of taonga and mātauranga by Māori, for Māori”.

“Tikanga will be recognised by ture [law] so, in the future, when the use of taonga and mātauranga Māori are being considered, te iwi Māori will have exclusive authority over their use as guaranteed by Te Tiriti o Waitangi and New Zealand law.”

The movement brings to life the Kanohi Ora engagements, which form an important stage in the Wai 262 constitutional development.

As the Kanohi Ora engagements take place throughout Aotearoa, input by iwi Māori will be sought through a serious of wānanga (seminars) for whānau, hapū and iwi to inform the protection framework.

“By listening to whānau, and understanding their shared experiences and opinions, we will help to build a framework informed by those who need this legislation to protect their taonga,” said Waitai, who’s also executive director of the Ngāti Kuri Iwi Trust Board.

"Today represents the beginning of the beginning. We need te iwi Māori to connect to the wairua of Wai 262 and understand how the framework supports the duty of kaitiakitanga,” said Haami Piripi at the recent launch of Tiaki Taonga.

Alongside wānanga, technicians and practitioners are working simultaneously to build the world-first legislation on indigenous IP (intellectual property) protection.

Piripi, who is a Wai 262 Taumata Whakapūmau member, emphasised the presence of Māori knowledge, rights and interest prior to the arrival of Europeans.

“We had, at that time, an answer to everything, every problem. Every solution was in our paradigm, our Māori worldview.”

“I think Māori New Zealanders, and certainly non-Māori New Zealanders today, are failing to recognise that.”

“They’re failing to recognise the integrity of our rock of culture, and our expanse of knowledge.”

Piripi said the Government had a duty - for the country’s benefit - to protect the monumental knowledge held.

“The fact that we had our own explanation of the universe is a big deal,” he said.

“I don’t want our children growing up thinking that our explanation of the universe came from someone else. It needs to come from us, from them.

“The New Zealand Government has a responsibility to protect that, to nurture it. Not just for us, but for the country.

“And I think we’ll be a much better country for it.”

Piripi said the movement spoke to the duty of those who have taonga to protect, and welcomed in Tangata Tiriti (peoples who signed the Treaty of Waitangi, non-Māori) who saw value in protecting taonga.

“We need te iwi Māori to connect to the wairua of Wai 262 and understand how the framework supports the duty of kaitiakitanga.”

“We urge our communities to come together through Tiaki Taonga and strengthen the binding of the Wai 262 foundational and guiding principles.”

For more information and to register for wānanga, visit: tiakitaonga.com.