Whakaari/White Island. Photo / File
By RNZ
Ngāti Awa has taken a massive financial hit since the closure of the White Island Tours, but helping the community heal from the tragedy remains its priority.
A $42 million Treaty of Waitangi settlement in 2003 marked a new beginning for the iwi, which finally had the means to buy back sections of stolen land, invest in business and create prosperity for its people.
The purchase of the White Island Tours, a cafe and motel in 2017 did just that - creating more than 50 jobs and generating $4.5m revenue.
But Ngāti Awa did not imagine what would unfold on the island on December 9 last year, when the volcano on Whakaari / White Island exploded and claimed lives.
Ngāti Awa Group Holdings chief executive Tracey Hook said the impact had been extraordinary and devastating.
"The impacts have been massive, not only financially, but emotionally, and spiritually. The focus has included looking after the staff that we have now and keeping in touch with the families and staff that were severely impacted" she said.
The iwi was at the forefront of the recovery effort, deploying their own medical staff to help victims, and supporting the community during the aftermath.
One year on, helping the community heal remains its biggest priority.
But Hook said their people could rest assured Ngāti Awa would work hard to create employment elsewhere, including through its recent Provincial Growth Fund projects.
"Through our fencing and waterways project, we've got targets to make sure that we have Ngāti Awa businesses across employment and supplier contracts.
"It's our obligation to do that, and that doesn't change," she said.
Ngāti Awa's annual revenue dropped from $10.5m to $9.1m this year, largely due to the closure of the tours.
White Island Tours staff have also reduced to 23.
But it's not just Māori employed by this business who have lost jobs in the region over the last year.
There are 8512 Māori across the Bay of Plenty who are now on a JobSeeker benefit, up more than 2500 from last year, due to Covid-19.
Social Link general manager Liz Davies said that figure was more than double that of Pākehā in the region.
"Māori tend to be in lower-income and more precarious employment, and those are the sorts of jobs that are generally the first to go," she said.
"That's particularly the case in hospitality and tourism, that were really hard-hit, and not just in Bay of Plenty, but nationwide."
It is unlikely that Whakaari itself will generate future employment.
Ngāti Awa Health and Social Services head Enid Ratahi-Pryor said it was not known if tours to the island would ever continue.
"Once upon a time we would have had a thriving summer tourism business with Whakaari running, and that's not going to be the case this summer. In terms of revenue, that's the other setback, and no doubt we are going to suffer.
"But the revenue is not really what Ngāti Awa or our whānau and hapū are thinking about. We're still thinking about the people, those who passed, and those who are still living with the event.
"What this event has particularly highlighted is the importance of our people and what we've seen are the strengths of our team at not only Whakaari White Island Tours, but the strength and resilience that is coming through from our rūnanga team and their commitment to our manuhiri," she said.
Ratahi-Pryor said Ngāti Awa still felt an enormous weight of responsibility over the Whakaari eruption.
As people who prided themselves on their ability to look after manuhiri or visitors, she said the pain they carried would take a long time to heal.
"As iwi we pride ourselves on our ability to manaaki our manuhiri and we practise our values of whanaungatanga and wairuatanga," she said.
"Experiences like this, where we've had manuhiri pass, these sorts of things don't dissipate over weeks or over months. Our experience today feels no different to the day the eruption occurred.
"Because of the connection we have to Whakaari, we feel that spiritual ownership of what's occurred. It won't dissipate until our whānau, hapū and iwi are back to a place where our wairua is settled."
A formal ceremony marking one year since the tragedy will be held in Whakatāne tomorrow, led by Ngāti Awa.
There will a minute of silence at 2.11pm.