Why this Waitangi Day signals a sea-change in Crown-Māori relations
And why we should care.
Until today, too often media coverage of Waitangi Day has focused on mudslinging and dildo-throwing. But anyone who has actually been to Waitangi on this day will know it’s about so much more than sensationalism.
So this year I’d like to share a little bit about why Waitangi is important to me, and how I think by learning more about our shared history we can help bring forth a more beautiful and abundant future for all of us.
In te ao Māori (the Māori world) ‘whanaungatanga’ is a process of establishing family-like relationships with others. It’s why Māori people share their pepeha (that formulaic greeting you hear at events) when meeting one another. We introduce ourselves starting with our oldest ancestors (rivers, mountains) and trace down through our whakapapa (family lineage) until we get to ourselves. It’s a way of building connection and trust with others. A way of paying tribute to those who have come before us and enable us to be here today.
My name is Laura O’Connell Rapira. I whakapapa to Hokianga and Taranaki. My mountain is Taranaki, my river is Waitara and my tribes are Te Ātiawa, Ngāpuhi and Te Rarawa. Three of my four grandparents are Māori. The other was an Irish Pākehā man whose family came to New Zealand seeking a better life than famine.
My Māori great-grandparents were the last people in my whānau to speak fluent te reo Māori (the Māori language). My grandparents (their kids) grew up in the 1940s. A time when children were legally allowed to be beaten for speaking their language in school. Because of that, my grandparents, like many Māori grandparents didn’t pass the language on.
This loss (theft) of language was handed down to me. As a result of this disconnection from my culture and language, I was whakamā (ashamed, shy, embarrassed) about being Māori until I was 21.
But this story isn’t just about the intergenerational loss of language, or identity. It is about the loss of the stories and history that come with language. It is about power, who has it and who doesn’t. It is about what we choose to teach our kids, and what we don’t. Which statues we build, which wars we remember, and those we don’t. It’s about understanding and knowing who we as a country and people are and how we came to be.
That’s why today — Waitangi Day — is so important.
Here’s a brief history of the signing of the Treaty and the events that followed:
In 1840, Māori rangatira (chiefs) and British settlers signed two different versions of the Treaty of Waitangi — one in English and one in Māori. The two treaties had significant differences in their translations. In the Māori version, the British Crown gained governorship over British subjects living in New Zealand, while Māori would retain rangatiratanga (sovereignty) over the land, forests, rivers and tāonga (treasure or that which they deemed precious). The Crown believed the English text gave the power to govern, create laws and hold power to them. A charitable interpretation is that this was a misunderstanding. A more cynical (and more likely) interpretation is that the British Crown purposefully did this to gain sovereignty.
At the time of signing, the population in Aotearoa was 80,000 Māori and 2050 non-Māori. Would Māori chiefs really have given sovereign power to a people they outnumbered 40 to one? I don’t think so. It’s also important to note more Māori chiefs signed the Māori version of the text than the English one, and that the Māori version of the text is the only version recognised under international law.
Despite this, in the years following, significant numbers of British settlers arrived, and the British Crown took over governance of all areas of life. A long and ongoing process of colonisation ensued. ‘Colonisation’ meaning the process of establishing control of a people through laws and force. Here are some examples:
- In 1841 the British Crown began seizing Māori land by creating the Land Claims Ordinance which deemed all “unappropriated” land property of the Crown.
- In 1852 the British Parliament was established without Māori representation. Only men who owned land individually could vote. Māori owned land communally and so did not qualify.
- In 1863 the New Zealand Settlements Act was established to enable the Crown to seize land from Māori tribes who had been “in rebellion” against the Government. This led to the confiscation of four million acres of land (roughly the size of Cape Reinga to Auckland).
- In 1864 the Native Reserves Act put all remaining Māori land reserves under Crown control.
- In 1867 the Native Schools Act decrees that English should be the only language used in the education of Māori children. Māori are required to donate their land for the schools. Beyond basic reading, writing and arithmetic, the curriculum for Māori is heavily skewed towards instruction in manual and domestic skills.
- In 1881 about 1600 government troops invade the western Taranaki settlement of Parihaka (where my family are from). This village was a place of peaceful resistance to the confiscation of Māori land.
- By 1896 the Māori population was slashed in half by introduced disease and war.
- By 1939, almost 100 years after the Treaty was signed, Māori retain just 1 percent of the South Island and 9 percent of the North Island.
- In 1950 the government began a three-decade long process of uplifting children from their homes — more than half of whom were Māori — and putting them into state ‘care’ where many faced horrific mental, physical and sexual abuse.
- In 1953 the Māori Affairs Act forced “unproductive” Māori land into Crown ownership.
- In 1967 the Māori Affairs Amendment Act introduced compulsory conversion of Māori freehold land with four or fewer owners into general land.
- In 1971 Māori made up 40% of the prison population, while forming only around 10% of the country’s total population. Prisons did not exist prior to British settlement.
- In 1977 the government announced a housing development on Ngāti Whātua land at Bastion Point in Auckland.
- In 2004 the government passed the Foreshore and Seabed Act under urgency. It made the Crown the owner of the foreshore and seabed (except for the privately owned parts).
- In 2015 the government announces a marine sanctuary off the Kermadec Islands, an area where Māori fishing rights were meant to be guaranteed by the 1992 Maori fisheries settlement. They do so without compensation or consultation.
As a result, today, Māori own around just five percent of all land in New Zealand. As compensation for the 95% loss of land, the Crown has paid iwi (tribes) and hapū (sub-tribes) $2.5 billion in all Treaty settlements combined.
Sound like a lot? It’s not.
The Crown currently spends almost $1 billion every year on prisons where Māori make up 51% of incarcerated people (despite being only 15% of the overall population). Treaty settlements also make up less than 2% of our annual GDP.
As for the reo (language), in 2018, just one in five of us can speak Māori fluently. (But if you listen to Mike Hosking all he says is “it’s not the government’s job to save the language”, despite our history).
All of this, the seemingly inevitable outcome for a people who have had their language, culture and land stripped away for generations.
That’s why Jacinda Ardern’s decision to spend five days at Waitangi is hugely significant. It’s the longest trip any Prime Minister has made to Te Tai Tokerau and the first time the lead representative of the Crown has visited Waitangi to spend more time listening than talking.
This seemingly small decision signals an opportunity for sea-change in Crown-Māori relations, and I know our community has a huge role to play in helping to make that happen. As Māori only make up 15% of the population, it is non-Māori who have an important role to play in supporting and amplifying initiatives, policies and projects that honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi and advance equality and fairness.
Last year, more than 10,000 ActionStation members voted on our collective vision:
In 2040 Aotearoa New Zealand will be a fair and flourishing country with care, creativity, courage and compassion at its core. We will honour te Tiriti o Waitangi and the rights of indigenous people in our constitution, our institutions and in everything we do. Everyone in our country will be proud of Aotearoa New Zealand for the positive role it plays globally.
We will have a robust democracy powered by informed and connected citizens, guided by accountable leaders. In all our decisions, we will put the well-being of everyday people and all forms of life on our precious planet first, and government policies will build a society and economy that truly serves all of us. Every person in our country will be safe, welcome and included and will have enough to live on, a warm, safe place to live and the means and support they need to learn and thrive.
We voted to put the values of equality and fairness, kaitiakitanga (care and responsibility for taonga, especially nature); aroha (love, empathy and compassion for all without discrimination); community and belonging (togetherness with the purpose of mutual care, support and creative enhancement); and manaakitanga (hospitality, kindness respect, generosity and care for others without expecting anything in return) at the heart of government decision-making and the way we live together in our towns, country and world.
I believe this future is possible, but only when we come together to reconcile our past and heal our future. That’s why this moment is so important.
There is a Māori whakataukī (proverb) that says:
“Naku te rourou nau te rourou ka ora ai te iwi
With your basket and my basket the people will thrive”
Let’s thrive together.
If you would like to learn more about Māori and New Zealand history, here is a spreadsheet of resources we have crowdsourced and compiled. The facts above are sourced from the various resources in this list. Please feel free to add to it.
I also recommend this read by Treaty educator Jen Margaret: State of the Pākehā Nation (PDF — we will ask for a more accessible version, if you’d like one please email info@actionstation.org.nz).
If you’d like to add more Māori media to your regular reading, please check out:
And finally, for coverage of the PM’s speech at Waitangi, please click here.
