‘Maranga Ake Ai’ The Heroics of Constitutionalising Te Tiriti O Waitangi/The Treaty of Waitangi in Aotearoa New Zealand

2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (4) ◽  
pp. 556-569
Author(s):  
Jacinta Ruru ◽  
Jacobi Kohu-Morris
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Power Sharing ◽  
British Colonialism ◽  
Language Version ◽  
Legal Traditions ◽  
International Borders ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand ◽  
Parliamentary Sovereignty ◽  
Treaty Of Waitangi ◽  
Parliamentary Supremacy

In 1840, some of the sovereign nations of Māori signed te Tiriti o Waitangi (the Māori language version of the Treaty of Waitangi) with the British Crown. Hone Heke was the first Māori leader of the northern nation of Ngāpuhi to sign, but by 1844 he was leading a significant revolt against British colonialism in Aotearoa New Zealand by chopping down British flagpoles erected on his lands. While Māori may have initially welcomed the intent of te Tiriti as a means for seeking British help to protect their international borders, the British prioritised the English version of the Treaty which recorded the transfer of sovereignty from Māori to the British. As the British transposed their dominant legal traditions of governance, including bringing to the fore their doctrine of parliamentary supremacy, Māori have been seeking their survival ever since. We extend this by focusing on why the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty needs to adapt to the Treaty’s promise of bicultural power sharing.

scholarly journals The Honour of the Crown: Giving Effect to the True Purpose of the Treaty of Waitangi

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Erin Matariki Carr
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Legal System ◽  
World View ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Public Power ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand ◽  
True Purpose ◽  
Treaty Of Waitangi ◽  
Parliamentary Supremacy ◽  
Waitangi Tribunal

<p>The Treaty was a constitutional agreement entered into by Maori, then sovereign of New Zealand, and the British Crown. The purpose of intention of this agreement was to enable both parties – Maori and the Crown – to share public power over Aotearoa, New Zealand. This paper refers to this purpose as the kawanatanga-tino rangatiratanga relationship, or dual sovereignty. This purpose has been derived from the Maori version of the Treaty, according to the Maori legal system which governed New Zealand at the time.  This purpose has not been given effect to, instead our constitution holds the Crown as the sovereign, and Maori are mere subjects of the Crown. This arrangement allowed the Crown to introduce their colonial legal system that enabled them to attain Maori land through war, confiscation and other means throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries. This in turn has created a “cycle of grievance” among our Maori community which keep Maori oppressed, claiming rights from the Crown which can be given, but are often taken away again or breached, depending on the political leanings of the day. The only way we can end this cycle of grievance, and restore legitimacy to our constitution, and restore Maori to their intended constitutional position of sovereign Treaty partner, alongside the Crown.  While this proposal may seem very radical, it is argued that New Zealand has been heading towards dual sovereignty through an “organic” revolution known as the Maori Renaissance that began in the 1970s. This paper will trace this “organic” revolution pointing to three specific institutions as examples of movement towards dual sovereignty: the Waitangi Tribunal, the Treaty Settlements process and the Treaty Principles. It is argued that while these institutions have made some incredible advances for Maori rights, they remain confined by our current constitutional arrangements that recognise the Crown as the only sovereign. This paper argues that what is needed as the next step in this organic revolution, is to step outside of our current constitutional arrangements and give effect to the true intention of the Treaty. This paper thus reflects on the historical context in and the Maori legal system in which the Treaty was signed. This paper then explains how we might be able to achieve this through the courts by invoking the doctrine of the honour of the Crown and adopting Dr Carwyn Jones’ theory of a ‘constitutional korero’. The honour of the Crown is a common-law doctrine that requires the Crown to honour its constitutional obligations. It recognises colonial governments as part of a special nation-to-nation relationship with indigenous peoples and can therefore give effect to the indigenous legal system and world-view that our current institutions cannot do. In this way it can perform as a limit on the Crown and its Parliamentary Supremacy. It is argued that realistically the courts may invoke this doctrine to enforce obligations made by the Crown to iwi through the recent Treaty Claims Settlements legislation. It is argued, however, that in keeping with this organic revolution, an eventual court may one day invoke the doctrine to enforce Article 2 of the Treaty of Waitangi itself and dual sovereignty may be achieved.</p>

scholarly journals The Honour of the Crown: Giving Effect to the True Purpose of the Treaty of Waitangi

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Erin Matariki Carr
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Legal System ◽  
World View ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Public Power ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand ◽  
True Purpose ◽  
Treaty Of Waitangi ◽  
Parliamentary Supremacy ◽  
Waitangi Tribunal

<p>The Treaty was a constitutional agreement entered into by Maori, then sovereign of New Zealand, and the British Crown. The purpose of intention of this agreement was to enable both parties – Maori and the Crown – to share public power over Aotearoa, New Zealand. This paper refers to this purpose as the kawanatanga-tino rangatiratanga relationship, or dual sovereignty. This purpose has been derived from the Maori version of the Treaty, according to the Maori legal system which governed New Zealand at the time.  This purpose has not been given effect to, instead our constitution holds the Crown as the sovereign, and Maori are mere subjects of the Crown. This arrangement allowed the Crown to introduce their colonial legal system that enabled them to attain Maori land through war, confiscation and other means throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries. This in turn has created a “cycle of grievance” among our Maori community which keep Maori oppressed, claiming rights from the Crown which can be given, but are often taken away again or breached, depending on the political leanings of the day. The only way we can end this cycle of grievance, and restore legitimacy to our constitution, and restore Maori to their intended constitutional position of sovereign Treaty partner, alongside the Crown.  While this proposal may seem very radical, it is argued that New Zealand has been heading towards dual sovereignty through an “organic” revolution known as the Maori Renaissance that began in the 1970s. This paper will trace this “organic” revolution pointing to three specific institutions as examples of movement towards dual sovereignty: the Waitangi Tribunal, the Treaty Settlements process and the Treaty Principles. It is argued that while these institutions have made some incredible advances for Maori rights, they remain confined by our current constitutional arrangements that recognise the Crown as the only sovereign. This paper argues that what is needed as the next step in this organic revolution, is to step outside of our current constitutional arrangements and give effect to the true intention of the Treaty. This paper thus reflects on the historical context in and the Maori legal system in which the Treaty was signed. This paper then explains how we might be able to achieve this through the courts by invoking the doctrine of the honour of the Crown and adopting Dr Carwyn Jones’ theory of a ‘constitutional korero’. The honour of the Crown is a common-law doctrine that requires the Crown to honour its constitutional obligations. It recognises colonial governments as part of a special nation-to-nation relationship with indigenous peoples and can therefore give effect to the indigenous legal system and world-view that our current institutions cannot do. In this way it can perform as a limit on the Crown and its Parliamentary Supremacy. It is argued that realistically the courts may invoke this doctrine to enforce obligations made by the Crown to iwi through the recent Treaty Claims Settlements legislation. It is argued, however, that in keeping with this organic revolution, an eventual court may one day invoke the doctrine to enforce Article 2 of the Treaty of Waitangi itself and dual sovereignty may be achieved.</p>

Collaboration in research: weaving Kaupapa Māori and computer science

2021 ◽  
pp. 117718012110431
Author(s):  
Anna K Rolleston ◽  
Judy Bowen ◽  
Annika Hinze ◽  
Erina Korohina ◽  
Rangi Matamua
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Computer Science ◽  
Indigenous People ◽  
Design Process ◽  
Software Design ◽  
Integrated Process ◽  
Engineering Project ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand ◽  
Treaty Of Waitangi ◽  
Kaupapa Māori

We describe a collaboration between Māori (Indigenous people of Aotearoa/New Zealand) and Tauiwi (non-Māori) researchers on a software engineering project. Te Tiriti o Waitangi (The Treaty of Waitangi) provides the basis for Māori to lead research that involves Māori as participants or intends to impact Māori outcomes. Through collaboration, an extension of the traditional four-step software design process was created, culminating in a nine-step integrated process that included Kaupapa Māori (Māori ideology) principles. The collaboration experience for both Māori and Tauiwi highlighted areas of misunderstanding within the research context based on differing worldviews and our ability to navigate and work through this. This article provides context, guiding principles, and recommended research processes where Māori and Tauiwi aim to collaborate.

Indigenous Peoples

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenny Te Paa-Daniel
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Anglican Church ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand ◽  
Treaty Of Waitangi ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Constitutional Revision

In 1992 the Anglican Church in Aotearoa New Zealand and Polynesia, which owed its origin ultimately to the work of Samuel Marsden and other missionaries, undertook a globally unprecedented project to redeem its inglorious colonial past, especially with respect to its treatment of indigenous Maori Anglicans. In this chapter Te Paa Daniel, an indigenous Anglican laywoman, explores the history of her Provincial Church in the Antipodes, outlining the facts of history, including the relationship with the Treaty of Waitangi, the period under Selwyn’s leadership, as experienced and understood from the perspective of Maori Anglicans. The chapter thus brings into view the events that informed and influenced the radical and globally unprecedented Constitutional Revision of 1992 which saw the creation of the partnership between different cultural jurisdictions (tikanga).

Indigenous Teacher Education in Canada and Aotearoa New Zealand

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Celia Haig-Brown ◽  
Te Kawehau Hoskins
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Indigenous Education ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Direct Result ◽  
Teacher Education Programs ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
Policy Document ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand ◽  
Treaty Of Waitangi

Indigenous teacher education has proven to be a powerful influence in the resurgence of Indigenous cultures and languages globally. In Canada and Aotearoa New Zealand, while there are numerous distinctions between the countries in size, linguistic and cultural diversity, and the histories of Indigenous peoples and colonization, an Indigenous commitment to schooling has shaped long-term and recent aspirations in both contexts. Within Canada, the proliferation of Indigenous teacher education programs is a direct result of a 1972 landmark national policy document Indian Control of Indian Education. This document written by Indigenous leaders in response to the Canadian government was the culmination of a decades-long, relentless commitment to creating the best possible schooling systems for Indigenous students within the provinces and territories. In 2015, despite some significant gains, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada completed its work articulating Calls to Action that reinforce the original recommendations, particularly the focus on Indigenous control of education. In the Aotearoa New Zealand context, the establishment of Māori language schooling pathways and Māori medium teacher education programs has been made possible by activism focused on the recognition of Indigenous-Māori rights to language and culture guaranteed by the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi. Forms of constitutional recognition of the Treaty of Waitangi mean that New Zealand endorses a social policy of biculturalism. From the 1970s and 1980s, responses to exclusionary and racist colonial policies and practices have led to the creation of teacher education programs in both Canada and Aotearoa New Zealand transforming universities and schools and establishing spaces of Indigenous authority, activism and expertise. While the pace of change varies radically from place to place and from institution to institution, and the specific contexts of the two countries differ in important ways, the innumerable Indigenous graduates of the programs make ongoing contributions to Indigenizing, decolonizing, and educating Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities alike. The growth and strengthening of an Indigenous education sector have led to significant policy and curriculum reforms across the education systems and to ongoing engagement in critique, advocacy, research, and practice. Throughout their development, Indigenous leadership and control of the programs remain the immediate and long-range goals.

scholarly journals ‘Not One More Bloody Acre’: Land Restitution and the Treaty of Waitangi Settlement Process in Aotearoa New Zealand

Land ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (11) ◽  
pp. 162
Author(s):  
Matthew Wynyard
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Extended Family ◽  
Public Works ◽  
Land Loss ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand ◽  
Treaty Of Waitangi ◽  
The Many ◽  
Land Restitution

Te Tiriti o Waitangi, signed between Māori rangatira (chiefs) and the British Crown in 1840 guaranteed to Māori the ‘full, exclusive and undisturbed possession of their lands’. In the decades that followed, Māori were systematically dispossessed of all but a fraction of their land through a variety of mechanisms, including raupatu (confiscation), the individualisation of title, excessive Crown purchasing and the compulsory acquisition of land for public works. Māori, who have deep cultural and whakapapa (genealogical) connections to the land, were left culturally, materially and spiritually impoverished. Land loss has long been a central grievance for many Māori and the return of land has been a guiding motivation for whānau (extended family), hapū (sub-tribe) and iwi (tribe) seeking redress from the Crown. Since the 1990s, many groups have entered into negotiations to settle their historical grievances with the Crown and while land loss and the deep yearning for its return are central to many Māori claims, precious little land is typically returned to Māori through the settlement process. This paper seeks to critically examine the Treaty settlement process in light of land restitution policies enacted elsewhere and argues that one of the many flaws in the process is the paucity of land returned to Māori.

scholarly journals New Zealanders’ Attitudes towards Biculturalism in Aotearoa New Zealand

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Maija McSweeney-Novak
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Racial Bias ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Research Directions ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand ◽  
Racial Biases ◽  
Treaty Of Waitangi ◽  
Future Research Directions ◽  
Knowledge Scale ◽  
New Zealanders

<p>New Zealand’s aspiration to be a bicultural nation, has yet to be realised. Māori continue to experience discrimination across all life domains. Research published in 2004, reported New Zealanders as being more supportive of symbolic than resource-based biculturalism. However, socio-political changes, the absence of research examining New Zealanders’ Treaty knowledge, and implicit racial biases towards Māori, suggest an update of this work is needed. Across two studies, this research aimed to investigate New Zealanders’ attitudes towards biculturalism in Aotearoa New Zealand. In Study 1, New Zealand born undergraduates (N = 56), completed the Implicit Association Test, a Pākehā Attitudes Towards Biculturalism Scale, a Treaty of Waitangi knowledge scale and estimated their declared Treaty of Waitangi knowledge. Study 2 was designed to replicate Study 1, and address limitations with a larger, more representative sample (N= 100). The Dunning-Kruger effect was also a specific focus. Across both studies, New Zealanders were more supportive of symbolic rather than resource-based biculturalism and showed an implicit racial bias towards Māori. In Study 2, we revealed new empirical evidence for the Dunning-Kruger effect: when estimating their knowledge relative to peers: lower performers over-estimated their knowledge whereas higher performers under-estimated their knowledge. Our results highlight that New Zealanders’ attitudes towards biculturalism have remained relatively unchanged since Sibley and Liu’s (2004) work, and raise concern for the aspirations of New Zealand as a bicultural nation. Implications and future research directions are discussed.</p>

scholarly journals Parliamentary sovereignty as a barrier to a Treaty-based partnership

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Lydia O'Hagan
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Common Law ◽  
Current Approach ◽  
Constitutional History ◽  
Public Power ◽  
Constitutional Review ◽  
Parliamentary Sovereignty ◽  
Legal Effect ◽  
Treaty Of Waitangi ◽  
Constitutional System

<p>The Treaty of Waitangi has repeatedly been affirmed as New Zealand’s founding document, yet our constitutional arrangements rest on the untrammelled principle of parliamentary sovereignty. This paper argues that the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty is contrary to the sharing of powers provided for in the Treaty, as it concentrates ultimate law-making authority in one body. New Zealand’s constitutional history is canvassed briefly, with a specific focus on the Treaty and the basis of British Crown’s acquisition of sovereignty over New Zealand. It is noted that the current place of the Treaty within New Zealand’s constitution is within the vast powers of parliament - the Treaty can only have legal effect to the extent that Parliament provides for. After looking at examples from statute and common law it is concluded that, rather than limiting parliamentary sovereignty, the current approach ultimately reinforces the absolute and indivisible power of parliament. As such, it is a barrier to a Treaty partnership between the Crown and Maori. To truly give effect to the Treaty a change in the way in which public power in New Zealand is configured and exercised is necessary. Three models for Treaty-based constitutional reform are therefore discussed. The current constitutional review provides Iwi and the Crown with an opportunity to look beyond the confines of the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty and forge a unique constitutional system that gives effect to the Treaty as New Zealand’s founding document.</p>

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