Te Tiriti o Waitangi
Te Tiriti o Waitangi is a wonderful founding document for our nation. Its promise is a mutual respect between hapū and the crown, of person and place, that gives opportunity for all, through self-determination. With the legal rule of contra proferentem, the Māori text is what takes legal standing. This is the text the rangatira who signed Te Tiriti understood fully. I give the Māori text primacy in my work. Here is a summary of what is stipulated in Te Tiriti o Waitangi the Māori text.
Article one affords to the crown “kawanatanga” which is the establishment of “governorship” or a Crown based government for New Zealand. This led to the waves of British immigrants of which my family was a part.
Article two promises to Māori “tino rangatiratanga” over their property and treasures. “Tino rangatiratanga” can be translated as absolute chieftainship or independence and authority. This establishes the key political respect from the Crown to Māori that is yet to be honored..
Article three affords to Māori the rights and privileges of British citizens, known as the equity clause.
A verbal understanding which is sometimes called “Article Four” was that Māori spirituality would be protected under the law, like the other church identities of the time.
Almost immediately the promises in Te Tiriti to Māori have been abandoned and trampled on with violence in its many forms. The invasion of troops which led to the taking of the land and the Māori Land Court, were set up to alienate Māori spirituality and identity in the land, and their economic base. Exclusionary systems such as City Councils, The Native Schools Act which violently oppressed and excluded Māori culture from the education system, are just a few examples their effects we live with today are a part of the ongoing colonial reality in our country..
Activism over time has lead to incremental moves to reinstate levels of autonomy of Māori over there affairs which were stripped during colinisation. It would be ideal if the “tino rangatiratanga” or
“absolute chieftainship” could be reinvested in and installed tomorrow. unfortunately with the way the New Zealand political and power structure works that is very unlikely to happen anytime soon. We have worked our lives to achieve many goals over my life time and we need to persist in our incremental efforts for the benefit of Māori and all New Zealanders over achieve what we deem is tino rangatiratanga. He wai pata pata nana i orooro te kohatu. The dropping water over time shapes the rock
Please see the link below for more information on Te Tiriti o Waitangi in our past and how we can honor Te Tiriti today, and into the future.
Treaty Resource Centre-He Puna Mātauranga o Te Tiriti
James Barnes
A poem on Te Tiriti o Waitangi and translation:
Te Tiriti o Waitangi ki au
He ngaru pou i te tiu ka horu ki te ākau,
horo pari whanaunga kore Te Wai o Rānana!
ka paremo te motu nei!
“He toka whakaeaea” te Tiriti o Waitangi
i wāua i ngā wharenui, i ruia ki te marae ātea
i nonoia e aku pakeke
he mana i whakaritea i whakaaea
te tino rangatiratanga e
Pai mārire
Te Tiriti o Waitangi to me
A large wave from the north rumbles at the forshore
It devours the cliffs with no concern to the people, The Water of London!
The country was totally drowned!
Te Tiriti o Waitangi Is a “ Rock that is never totally consumed”
It was spoken of in the meeting houses, and strewn across the marae
It was strived for by my elders
A power that was agreed to and anointed
The absolute chieftainship “tino rangatiratanga”.
Good peace
Greetings to one and all
James Barnes