#16970 - Aotahi 123 - Legal Foundations (LAWS110)

Aotahi

7 May

Laws110

Where could the Treaty be heading?

Overview

• Treaty Settlements

• Constitutional Change

Future of the Treaty of Waitangi

Redefining the nature of the treaty partnership

Constitutional change- answer not simple- complexities of constitutional reflection of treaty

Treaty Settlements

Why have them?

A process of redress for historical takings of land. (not compensation- has legal meaning about providing recompense) come to relative value of settlements

About the principles of redress

Principles of the treaty of Waitangi

Principle of redress- principle based that the government should act honorably and if it does not do that it should do something to make up for it. Restore governments honour

Government- our highest authority should act to higher moral standards, it is about what treaty settlements are for, restoring honour

Tiritoanga –

Settlements don’t restore authority to hapu

Restore resources, give financial interdependence

If you want to make aspirations real, you have to find a way to pay for it. Economic interdependence, aspire and make things real, restore the honour of crown and restore some degree of the ability to restore tino rangitiratanga.

What is in them?

Don’t restore political authority

• Apology

• Cultural redress

• Commercial redress

Put into legislation… all treaty settlements have their own statute… Settlement Act…

Treaty Settlements have the force of law- put into statute

Parts of it create legal changes… helpful to understand what they are

3 main parts (listed above)

Apology- important!!

Short

People tend to undersell it

They have to acknowledge that they have done something wrong, an apology

• Build trust in the apology

• The whole purpose of the apology

• The Crown and the hapu agree on a specific set of words for the wrong committed, crown apologies for that

Families connected to grievances processes

Outside this- TOW, taking of land, popped up

For whanau it is something that is living history, for 9 generations, significance of an apology, something you are living with every day

• Ngai Tahu- we talk about the Ngai Tahu claim for justice taking 7 generations

• Ngai Tahu advocacy for response of taking of Ngai Tahu land, mortage homes, put house at risk to pay for form of justice, Families missed life to go to tribal qui?

Impacted lives

• Like a tithe, pay for tribal pursuit of justice

• Families have lived with story of sacrifice for the collective good

• Different sense – impacts

• Layer of a way of doing things

• Is relevant today

• Shared expectations of the relationship with the government

• Nagi Tahu petitioned the government to seek recompense for taking of land, enquiries so a review could be done whether taking was lawful and proper

• Tribal census- would be ready for recompense

• Each generation continued what is known as the Ngai Tahu claim

• Government continually said no

• Commissions of enquiry – answer to claims- no

• Climatized as a community to fight for a righteous claim- set of expectations

• Expectations about that human and their place in the world

• Apology in settlements

• First and only time- Crown acknowledged they did wrong

• Negotiators- crown- consequence of doing wrong

• Part of settlement process- crown turn up to the marae- prime minister read out the apology- powerful experience

• When

• Something heard and goes into law

• Appendix to apology- Ngai Tahu settlement

• Ngai Tahu Marae- visible every generation gets to hear about significance on the wall of Marae

• The Crown acknowledges that it took things from Ngai Tahu, they became eimpober0shed, gave to national interest- Maori Battalion, crown unreservedly apologies for acting unconsciously.

• Not believing it would come, expecting the crown to do bad things

Cultural redress

• Voice over environmental things

• People who have traditional landscape- having no voice

• If you own something you have the right to stop people doing something

• If you don’t have land- not much legal influence/control

• Generations

• Rock art

• Dams- flooded the rock art, they did not take photos, did not ask about what they thought, it is gone forever

• Cultural redress is designed to be used, they had no voice in flooding of rock art, to give them voice and a degree of influence

• If it happened again… come to Ngai Tahu

• Designed to work in this space

• Could have removed part of rock art

1. Place names- cultural redress mechanism

Iwi- opportunity- place names on legal landscape through settlement process

Aoraki Mt Cook

Ngai Tahu settlement Mt Cook became known as Aoraki Mt Cook

Ignore Maori stories, don’t see the histories and associations that existed before.

Consequences of taking names- histories and relationships become invisible

• Create visibility of hapu history with their ancestral landscape

• The ability for generations to see themselves in their land, history and cultural

• Identity and history

Restore history

2. Statutory acknowledgement

Record relationships of hapu and iwi

Aoraki Mt Cook- Ngai Tahu Settlement

Traditional stories of where the mountain came from.

Reason for doing this

Environmental decision makers had low regard for Maori

Way of saying that these relationships are real, recognised in laws, should be considered in environmental decision making

Validating cultural relationships existing

3. Investing the ownership of land in the iwi

Pounamu (green stone) in Ngai Tahu territory- ownership with Ngai Tahu

Lake Ellesmere- bed of lake is owned by Ngai Tahu

Investing ownership of a thing in hapu or iwi- goes with property rights

Created an opportunity for Ngai Tahu to create an authentication story against the jade which is passed off as being NZ when it is made in different country. Created an authentication framework, trace pounamu from where it came from, trace it back to carver, without ownership Ngai Tahu could not have done this, Ngau Tahu created jobs + opportunities

Bed of Lake Ellesmere- influence over decisions that are made over the lakebed

Co-governance relationship with regional council

Platform to negotiate a power sharing relationship

Creates opportunities to create something from it

Strategic foothold- stronger in law

4. Membership opportunities on organisations

, advisory boards

When settlements were done, there was weak relationships between Maori and government

Hapu, seats on things= greater understanding increase, open doors to further opportunities

See in four differ

Whanganui river- legal personality

National Park ownership

Cultural redress including social redress

Nga Tuhuo take over Minister of Social Development

Members of tuhuo resources from ministry of – the benefit??

Take over functions, change experience of people

As more iwi come through

Unique aspirations

Commercial redress

Ngai Tahu Settlement- 170 million dollars

• 2% of actual loss they experienced

• Through historical takings of land

• Seems huge, when compared against the loss, when compared against other things government does, how much they spend

• Strongest argument- anything more is unaffordable for the government- that is why they are at that level

• Iwi perspective- conversation whether to accept?

• Ngai Tahu believed it was better to take something and build it rather than to continue to miss the opportunities through continual negotiation

• Commercial value

• Hapu or iwi to create their own future

• Ngai Tahu 170 million grown into 1.7 billion is now used to fund what the tribe wants to see happen in the world

• 50-60million dollars- Ngai Tahu decides what to do with to put towards tribal

• Rangatiratanga- define aspirations of what you want future to be, treaty settlements- financially able to

• Environmentally restoration

• Money into tribal savings scheme

• Education scholarships

• Contribute to a better future for Ngait Tahu descendants

• How to invest this to create social change

• It is still a limited dimension

• Make decisions of what type of future we want as an iwi

• Don’t get political dimensions

• No ability to raise tax- no pollical dimensions of self-determination

• A heavy burden

• An intergenerational fight for justice

• Effectively trained how to fight for justice

• ...