AN EPIC FIGHT

In 1847, in an epic decision that was not appealed to the Privy Council, the Supreme Court declared that aboriginal title "cannot be extinguished (at least in times of peace) otherwise than by the free consent of the Native occupiers."

Instead of developing laws around that decision, the New Zealand Parliament responded with the Maori Lands Act 1862 and the Native Rights Act 1865 which established the Native Land Court (today the Māori Land Court) to hear aboriginal title claims, and—if proven—to convert them into freehold interests that could be sold to Pākehā.

Why did the Crown do that? Because it knew that the key to removing land from Māori hands and getting it into the hands of Pākehā, was to break and replace the hapū system of collective ownership with a system of individual ownership. Having done that, it was then able to ‘legally’ separate hapū from their lands, and vice versa.

Given the suffering caused by individualisation, you’d think Māori would recognise and shun it like the plague if it ever appeared again, wouldn’t you? Well, apparently not.

Earlier this year the hapū of Ngāpuhi, the largest iwi in Aotearoa, finally began to establish before the Waitangi Tribunal the basis of their many grievances against the Crown for its innumerable breaches of Te Tiriti o Waitangi since 1840. Having completed the first phase of their hearings, they were preparing for the second stage when it became clear that, with the Crown’s support, Tūhoronuku, a sub-committee of Ngāpuhi’s iwi authority, were about to seek a mandate to settle their claims for them.

The hapū are not happy. Under the banner of Te Kotahitanga o Ngāpuhi they are now trying to persuade Tūhoronuku to back off the mandating process so they can focus their energies on second phase hearings of their claims.

Last week I listened to the live broadcast on iwi radio of the hui held in Te Tii between the two groups. With several hundred people present, it was clear that the overwhelming majority favoured the Kotahitanga position. But it was just as clear Tūhoronuku are not going to back off.

That is very bad news for all of us who don’t want them to fight each other.
Their key messages are very similar sounding but are actually quite different. Tūhoronuku says repeatedly, “Let Ngāpuhi speak.” Te Kotahitanga says just as consistently, “Let Ngāpuhi be heard.” The difference hinges on the fact that Tūhoronuku is not seeking its mandate from the hapū, but will instead appeal directly to individuals like myself.

For hapū, the use by their iwi of individualisation will be even more destructive than when the Crown did it to them in 1865.

Hapū are the transformer in the circuit between whānau and iwi, and many Ngāpuhi hapū are bigger than some iwi. So regardless of what I and others want, unless key iwi leaders do what is right by their hapū, an epic fight is inevitable.

Aue! E koutou, e ngā mea ataahua, nā te aha i āhei ai i a koutou te kōtiti ke atu i ngā huarahi a te hapū?

BACK TO THE TRIBUNAL

In 1986 Ngāti Kahu’s hapū leaders agreed to allow our land claims to be consolidated into WAI 45, along with those of Ngāti Kuri, Te Aupōuri, Ngāi Takoto and Te Rarawa.

What followed were thirteen long and arduous weeks of hearings held over five years. It then took a further three years before the Waitangi Tribunal released the Muriwhenua Land Claims Report (1997) in which it comprehensively upheld all of Ngāti Kahu’s claims and found that the Crown had breached Te Tiriti grievously, thereby seriously prejudicing us. The Tribunal also recommended in its report that the Crown make immediate redress for its breaches, starting with a substantial transfer of assets to the claimants.

Ngāti Kahu has been trying to negotiate a settlement for eight years now. But from the start the Crown has shown nothing but bad faith.

First it tried to dictate both the settlement process and the content of our settlement. Then it passed laws to steal the takutaimoana, sold off claim lands to private buyers, sold mineral exploration rights to foreigners, and allowed Landcorp to try and sell parts of Rangiputa station.

More recently it has insisted that Ngāti Kahu and the other iwi must pay it almost $10 million for the Aupōuri forest lands when it has already had a return on that land of $37 million from JNL for the cutting rights. Now it has told every iwi in Te Hiku, except Ngāti Kahu, that it has given up trying to settle with us at the same time as the others because it doesn’t like the terms of our deed of partial settlement.

Instead of settling with Ngāti Kahu at a high level, thereby lifting the other iwi settlements up, the Crown is maneuvering to leave us to the side while using lands in which our hapū share an interest to settle at a lower level with the other iwi.

Ngāti Kahu’s hapū have now instructed our mandated negotiators to file with the Waitangi Tribunal for a resumption of the hearing it adjourned in 2008, and to make binding recommendations that the Crown return to Ngāti Kahu all Crown forest and State-owned Enterprise lands in the rohe, plus pay compensation on the forest lands. Legal counsel for Ngāti Kahu filed last Friday.

The Crown has never acknowledged the findings of its own Tribunal. Nor has it paid a cent or transferred any assets to Ngāti Kahu. For now it will get its way ~ there will be no settlement done on Ngāti Kahu’s terms at this time.

But the Crown also knows that this is only a delay, not a reprieve, because even after our hapū get what they can through the Tribunal, they will still be able to pursue settlement, and it is a dead cert that they will.

But an even greater certainty is that the next generation of Ngāti Kahu hapū leaders will be even stronger than the six generations who preceded them.

This delay will cost the Crown dearly.

FEAR OR FREEDOM

At a recent meeting of Christian women here in Kaitaia, one of our number walked out because two others publicly commented on her perceived shortcomings. In a mere minute the feeling in the meeting went from pleasant to poisoned. I actually envied those amongst us who were deaf because they didn’t get to hear the acid tones of the petty and unintelligent exchange.

At another meeting on the same day another group of women, this time Māori in Auckland, openly mocked and ridiculed a Christian woman who they perceived as being wrong for their organisation. Whether Hannah Tamaki should lead the Māori Women’s Welfare League or not is a matter for their ballot box. Certainly the lady doesn’t float my boat, but to belittle her for being a peroxide blonde was nothing but petty and unintelligent.

The presenting problems between these different groups of women are not unique to any gender, race, faith or age group. Instead they are symptomatic of some deeper difficulty. What is it that causes any one of us to act offensively, or react defensively? How can we feel right about hurting or being hurt? I believe that in every case the underlying cause is spiritual and is triggered by fear.

There is an old wisdom that says we are only as sick as our secrets. I would amend that to say that we are only as sick as our secret fears. I know what it is to regret saying something stupid or doing something dumb, and to know that it can’t be unsaid or undone. In those cases I’ve had to watch the reactions of others play out, and know that they are beyond my control. I’ve had to face my own fears and failings, and admit to them. I’ve given and received forgiveness, and have experienced the freedom which comes with that.

As a Christian I’ve gotten used to some of my whānau looking at me sideways and making snide comments like, “The problem with Christianity is that it’s full of Christians.” At one level they’re right, wherever there are people there are problems. But at another level they’re wrong, because as someone wiser then me once said, the church is a hospital for sinners, not a hotel for saints.

Similarly, as a Māori I’ve gotten used to the Crown and its supporters treating me differently and then blaming me for that difference. At one level I’m hoha with them for projecting onto me their fear of losing power and control, especially to Māori. But at another level I feel sorry for them. No matter how much material wealth they garner, they still don’t feel safe from Māori ‘radicals.’ Their fear is poisoning them. They need a hospital.

As one who has to regularly engage with these fearful folk, I can choose to either pass on their poison or to rise above the fears that lie beneath their behaviour.

Every choice has a consequence, but the unique thing about the choice between fear or freedom is that they are also their own consequence. I choose freedom.

KRIS KJELDSEN

When my Pākehā grandmother married my grandfather she probably had no idea that sometime during their long and fiery union she would move from being considered a stranger amongst Māori, to becoming he tau iwi. But that is what happened.

There are other Pākehā who, although their starting point was different, became similarly connected. One such was Kris Kjeldsen, aka Kris Hippy.

Kris came to Pawarenga with his wife Diane in the early 1970s. Us rangatahi were riding home after a day of just being, when this old bomb stopped, a Pākehā hopped out, looked up and drawled, “Which one of you kids wants to swap your horse for my car?” Willie Pirini was the quickest to do the deal. So that’s how he became the first of us to own a car, while Kris and Diane took tenure of a spavined nag named Freepass. As we watched that delicately blonde and very hapū girl ride away with her husband walking in front, I thought they looked like Pākehā versions of Joseph and Mary. Of course, the horse outlasted the car by many years.

California was Kris’ birthplace, but Papatūānuku was his true address and Tangaroa his post-code. He was an ecologist. During his Zuma Beach / Baja surfing days, he’d fought against Chrysler naming its cars after marine creatures like the Barracuda. And, at a time when we Pawarengans were just starting to gain electricity, flush toilets and inside plumbing, he was renouncing them. We thought he was mad, but the energy crises during the mid and late 1970s proved him sane.

Kris' accent enthralled us. We'd talk to him just to hear it. "How are the kūtai?" we asked one day. "Jerst lahk rerber-banz," was the answer. So that became our response to any number of questions. Sister Peters to our confirmation class, "What is faith?" Answer: "Just like rerber-banz."

Kris’ two oldest children were born in Pawarenga and schooled at Hāta Maria. A third child is buried there. He was a founding Trustee of the Pawarenga Community Trust, and tutored our first community garden courses there. He was also one of the people who revived the sport of waka ama in Aotearoa. In fact its national body was founded in Pawarenga in 1987 at a hui in Taiao marae.

For the last twenty years, Kris had dedicated his life to the growth of that sport. He’d built thousands of waka and many more paddles. However it was during his first twenty years amongst the hapū of Te Uri o Tai in Pawarenga that Kris had moved from being ‘that strange hippie’ to becoming our beloved brother and friend – he tau iwi.

Kris lived and worked beside Māori whakawhiti i ngā mōtu for just over forty years, and he loved us just as we are. Kris died last Thursday.

He tohu aroha tēnei ki te whānau pani kua noho mokemoke nei mo tātou hoa, he tangata aroha kua moe nei ki te pō roa. Haere ra e Kris. Haere ra e hoa, haere atu ra. Say hello to Bo and Chris from us.