Returning the land means giving back the authority too, Waitangi conversation tent hears

If the Crown gives the land back, it needs to give back everything connected to it – that was the kōrero in the conversation tent at Waitangi.

In December, the Waitangi Tribunal released a report of Crown breaches of Te Tiriti o Waitangi relating to some rangatira across Te Tai Tokerau who signed the Treaty between 1840 and 1900.

The 2000-page report, titled Tino Rangatiratanga me te Kāwanatanga: The Report on Stage 2 of the Te Paparahi o te Raki Inquiry, found that the Crown has breached principles of Te Tiriti which caused severe and lasting prejudice.

It focused on 415 claims brought to the tribunal from whānau, hapū and iwi representatives from the Bay of Islands, Hokianga, Whāngārei, Mangakāhia, Whangaroa, Mahurangi and the Gulf Islands.

READ MORE:
* David Seymour shows his te reo skills and Chris Hipkins urges calm at Waitangi
* He Whakaputanga: He whakamahukitanga i Te Rangatira
* Waitangi Tribunal report reveals Crown 19th century treaty breaches in Northland

On Sunday, a panel of hapū kaikōrero (speakers for various hapū) and claimants of Wai 1040 discussed how the findings of the report and the recommendations it made to the Crown could affect hapū if they came to fruition.

The tribunal made five recommendations to the Crown, including reminding the Crown to acknowledge the findings in the Stage 1 report; that Te Raki Māori never ceded sovereignty; that the Crown should make a formal apology for its breaches of Te Tiriti; and that the Crown should engage with Te Raki Māori regarding constitutional change to align with the promises of Te Tiriti signed by Te Raki Māori rangatira in 1840.

However, the recommendation to return raupatu (confiscated) land the Crown still holds was heavily discussed in the tent on Sunday.

Hapū kaikōrero and panellist Dallas King said if ownership was to be returned, then so too should the sovereign control of the whenua and all things connected to it.

“When I think about land back, I think kōrero tuku iho [oral history] back, names back, ingoa tawhito [names of old] back, the decisions over all of those taonga being made on our marae and in our homes.

“When you bring those names back, you bring [the] kōrero tuku iho back, you don’t build where it floods because the names tell us the charisms of those places…

“So absolutely when I think land back, I don’t just think land. I think rivers back, I think mountains, I think … whakakorenga i te mana o te Karauna [abolish the mana of the Crown].”

Hapū kaikōrero and claimant Huhana Lyndon said the proposed return of Crown land was good, but other raupatu land in the hands of local body authorities should also be returned.

“There’s only a small percentage of Crown land in our rohe and if we look at places like council, they sit on many of our harbour born lands … ,” Lyndon said.

“Councils are not the Crown, but councils hold a lot of assets that they received for free. They received it handed down through the Crown, and they administer it, and councils pass the land between themselves, and then they sell it off as though it’s their asset.

“Ultimately, those lands should be returned as well.”

Hapū Kaikōrero and claimant Joel Bristowe told the crowd the return of the land would be a return of mātauranga for whānau across the rohe because with the loss of land has come the loss of teaching tamariki about the maramataka.

“In the loss of our lands was the loss of our culture and the loss of our tikanga.”

Many of those who held the knowledge have died, and with them so has the ability to pass on that mātauranga to the next generation, Bristowe said.

With the return of the whenua, this knowledge could be revitalised, he said.