The Waitangi Tribunal has recommended the Crown pause Ngatiwai Treaty negotiations so issues with the Ngatiwai Trust Board's deed of mandate can be addressed.
The Ngatiwai Mandate Inquiry Report, released today, found the Crown breached the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi when it recognised the mandate of the Ngatiwai Trust Board to negotiate Treaty claims on behalf of iwi in October 2015.
The report comes after 10 claimant groups applied for an urgent inquiry into the Crown's recognition of that mandate. Urgency hearings were held at Whangarei's Toll Stadium in October last year and in Wellington in December.
Claimant Mylie George of Ngatiwai ki Whangaruru said whanau welcomed the report.
"It is heartening to see this judicial body has given equitable weighting to tikanga as it did to the law in its findings and recommendations. We can now work constructively in a way that upholds and enhances our hapū and whanau rangatiratanga, mana whenua, and mana moana."