Research
Build capacity on all sides of Te Tiriti
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Te Tiriti
Te Tiriti (The Treaty of Waitangi) is core to our national values and must be honoured. When it is dishonoured, it becomes a barrier to belonging for Māori and non-Māori alike. Participants shared that the Government must be a genuine Treaty partner and enable power-sharing with the Tangata Whenua. They also expressed how many companies and organisations talk about how they value Te Tiriti - but Māori are often left out or without meaningful involvement.
Equality is really important to me, men, women. You can talk about Te Tiriti process. When Te Tiriti isn’t being honoured, that’s a barrier to my sense of belonging. Consultation and inclusion is not partnership, not in my experience. I’ve been told I’m part of a consultation process. That upsets me. My experience is that that means bugger all. They don’t do it [ie what was told to them in the consultation], they don’t listen. Engagement is not partnership with tangata whenua, with mana whenua. I teach my kids that, of our roles. Anything that upsets that process, my rangatiratanga, upsets my sense of belonging.
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Equality is really important to me, men, women. You can talk about Te Tiriti process. When Te Tiriti isn’t being honoured, that’s a barrier to my sense of belonging. Consultation and inclusion is not partnership, not in my experience. I’ve been told I’m part of a consultation process. That upsets me. My experience is that that means bugger all. They don’t do it [ie what was told to them in the consultation], they don’t listen. Engagement is not partnership with tangata whenua, with mana whenua. I teach my kids that, of our roles. Anything that upsets that process, my rangatiratanga, upsets my sense of belonging.
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People who ‘rule’ the country and make the policies should be genuine. For eg, companies tend to talk about the Treaty, but if you go to their management board, they [Māori/Pasifika] don’t have a view as they don’t really have a voice due to them being less in numbers at the corporate level.
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When I say- be a good Māori treaty partner, they say it’s too hard. What’s the point of doing business in New Zealand, they say, it’s too hard.
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With power sharing, the board of Social Link, for example, is in the process of adopting a two-house model, so it’s 50-50. A Māori board and a non-Māori board and they share power that recognizes treaty, partnership.“But in order to live and grow the food, I had been using the system, and I was here, not because Māori welcomed me here, it’s because the colonisers sign my visa. I’ve been thinking about it a lot. It seems my path for belonging for some generations forward, for my son, is Te Tiriti. Otherwise my right to be here, there is no right for me to be here. Te Tiriti is the framework, and unless it is honoured, there is no way forward.
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I’ve been involved in Waitangi [xx] for many years. At the time Te Tiriti o Waitangi was written, there were traditions, then there was introduced kaupapa in the treaty. It’s so ambiguous in the English version, it’s not funny.
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