A great day at Parliament yesterday for the Taranaki Whanui ki te Upoko o Te Ika with the passing of legislation to finalise their Treaty claim. It is well worth folks from Wellington and beyond reading some of the historical account of that lies behind the settlement. There are some unique elements to this settlement. One is that in additional to the Crown apology for actions that breached the Treaty, the Taranaki Whanui have offered a statement of forgiveness. This is an incredible gesture, and gives a positive platform for the future relations between the city and iwi. The legislation also contains an opt-out clause for one of the iwi represented (Ngati Tama). This is not something that anyone wants to see become a practice in settlement legislation, but is reflective of the unique nature of the settlement covering Taranaki iwi, Te Atiawa, Ngati Ruanui, Ngati Mutunga and Ngati Tama.
We in Wellington all owe a huge debt of gratitude to Ngatata Love and his team, as well as all the officials and Ministers who have worked so hard on this claim. I said in my speech in the Third Reading yesterday that I intend to send the full Deed of Settlement to all schools in the city. I think this is something everyone growing up in Wellington will benefit from understanding.
Grant, it’s Ng?ti in all cases, and Wh?nui, and Mutunga.
I agree with your post, and it’s an excellent sentiment, but really – in Te Wiki o t reo M?ori is to too much to ask for correctness?
L
Ah, Muphry’s Law – Te Wiki o te reo M?ori. Sigh.
L
I might be missing something but the OTS website doesn’t appear to have the historical information you refer to?
The statement of forgiveness is remarkable as you say.
While this is not as big a scam as some of the settlements that we have had it really is one of the cheekiest. Almost as bad as the Treelords one giving “back” land that was bought fair and square to a bunch of tribes not even party to the Treaty according to my history book (Tuhoe,Tuwharetoa,Te Arawa).
Does anybody else think it is just a tad cheeky for a group of Maori from Taranaki who arrived in Wellington after the white settlers to make a Treaty claim? Next thing they will be up in Taranaki making a claim for Mt Egmont (or Haupapa as it was known to the local Maori).
And Lew, is that the ancient Maori spelling or are you just being a bit precious ?
JohnBT, that’s a ‘no’ to all questions in your comment.
L
johnbt, are you Paul Holmes? Cheeky? Really?
How about you provide a more detailed critique of the deal to elaborate your views?
Lew: typo on Ngati Mutunga, corrected now. Using Word Press I could not get the macrons to work, but have asked our helpful admin person to see if they can show me how to find them.
Paul: OTS site not good for links, but if you go into Documents and then look for Deeds of Settlement you will find the whole thing.
Grant, cheers. It can be a pain to get the proper input thing working, but if you google “macron” you should be able to copy&paste the appropriate characters in.
L