Tuhoe leader Rua Kenana's pardon details released

Ashanti Neems, Kirituia Tumarae-Teka, Toko Hitaua Miki and Te Ururoa Flavell at a press conference at the Te Puni Kokiri offices in Rotorua today. Photo/Ben Fraser

Maori Development Minister Te Ururoa Flavell has today released a summary of an agreement which will progress a statutory pardon for Tuhoe prophet and leader Rua Kenana.

The Crown and descendants of Rua Kenana and Nga Toenga o nga Tamariki a Iharaira me nga uri o Maungapohatu will sign the agreement at Maungapohatu on Saturday which bring the statutory pardon a step closer to reality.

Mr Flavell and whanau of Rua Kenana met in Rotorua today ahead of the historic signing to outline details of the agreement.

Maori Development Minister Te Ururoa Flavell speaks ahead of Saturday's signing of an agreement to progress a statutory pardon for Rua Kenana.

Posted by Rotorua Daily Post on Tuesday, 5 September 2017

"The agreement contains much more than the pardon. It acknowledges the lasting effects the events 2 April 1916 had on the descendants of Rua Kenana and Nga Toenga o nga Tamariki a Iharaira and apologises for that," said Mr Flavell.

"It is what his uri and followers of the Iharaira faith deserve. It goes some way to putting right a wrong from a century ago."

The Agreement notes the Crown's intention to introduce legislation to provide:

• a summary of the circumstances around the 1916 invasion of Maungapohatu;

• Crown acknowledgements to the descendants of Rua Kenana and Nga Toenga o ngā Tamariki a Iharaira;

• a Crown apology to the descendants of Rua Kenana and Nga Toenga o nga Tamariki;

• a pardon to Rua Kenana for the conviction he sustained for moral resistance to arrest; and

• a declaration to restore the character, mana and reputation of Rua Kenana, his uri (descendants), and Nga Toenga o nga Tamariki a Iharaira.

The statutory pardon for Rua Kenana will not be made official until legislation enacting the terms of the agreement is passed by Parliament. It is a pardon for the criminal conviction.

Once passed into law the statutory pardon will be only the fourth arising from Crown-Maori relations.

In 1988, those of Ngati Awa descent who were arrested, tried and labelled as rebels in or about 1865, received a statutory pardon in the Runanga o Ngati Awa Act; in 2013,
Mokomoko received statutory recognition of a previous Royal Prerogative of Mercy pardon for his involvement in the murder of missionary Carl Volkner in 1865, and in 2014, Kereopa Te Rau also received a statutory pardon for his role in the murder of Reverend Volkner through the Treaty settlement with Ngāti Rangiwewehi.

Background:

On 2 April, 1916, a contingent of 70 armed police invaded Maungapahatu to arrest Tuhoe prophet and leader Rua Kenana. In an exchange of gunfire, his son Toko Rua and Te Maipi Te Whiu were killed and other Maori and four police were injured.

Charges laid against Rua Kenana over the invasion were either dismissed or resulted in his acquittal, but he was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment on an earlier charge of "moral resistance". The Iharaira faith went into decline after the events and has never fully recovered.

The Waitangi Tribunal in 2012 determined that excessive force was used in the arrest of Rua Kenana and it was unlawfully carried out as it was on a Sunday.