[1] Te Tiriti o Waitangi has always been considered by Māori as a sacred
covenant with the Crown.
In 1840, just as the English were expected
to abide by French law in France, the same convention was expected
here in Aotearoa by the Rangatira. But Te Tiriti also offered the Crown
something that would never have been granted willingly in France – the
authority to continue governing its own citizens who lived in this country.
That offer
was never accepted by the Crown, but it is absolutely consistent with the
reality where the important question was not whether Māori understood
sovereignty, but whether the Crown understood mana and the obligations that manuhiri
were expected to honour.
In one of
the first written submissions received by Matike Mai in 2011, Erima
Henare referred to this reality in quite specific terms –
“From our perspective
there is only Te Tiriti … that is what was signed (at Waitangi) … The other
text … is just the English version. It
is not the same as Te Tiriti o Waitangi and has no mana. It … meant nothing to our tūpuna, nothing. They signed only what they understood, Te
Tiriti i te reo Māori … (and) because our tūpuna protected the foreigners who
lived here at that time … the Māori way of life and … sovereignty were
acknowledged as … axiomatic to Te Tiriti … Any other interpretation that would
have us ceding our mana is a denial of historical reality. It is a manipulation of the past to make it
fit what exists now … Had ceding sovereignty been suggested at that time … all
hell would have broken loose.”
Matike Mai
also received a copy of the submission that Rima Edwards had made to
the Waitangi Tribunal
in the Paparahi
o Te Raki hearing. He began by
noting that He
Whakaputanga is a “Kawenata
tapū” and
“a declaration of
independent authority and an introduction to understanding Te Tiriti.”
He then
stated that Te Tiriti is also a “kawenata tapū and that its terms are equally
clear –
“I te tuatahi, horekau
i tukua e ngā Rangatira o ngā Hapū to rātou mana ki a Kuini Wikitoria. Te tuarua, horekau i tukua e ngā Rangatira o
ngā Hapū to rātou mana whakahaere o to Hapū whenua ki a Kuini Wikitoria. Te tuatoru i whakae ngā Rangatira o ngā Hapū kia
whakatungia he hononga tapū waenganui i
ngā mana o Aotearoa me Ingarangi.”
In the first instance,
the Rangatira of the Hapū did not cede sovereignty to Queen Victoria. Secondly, the Rangatira of the Hapū did not
cede their mana in relation to the land to Queen Victoria. Thirdly, the Rangatira of the Hapū did agree
to create a sacred relationship between the sovereign nations – that is Aotearoa
and England.”
Next week we
will continue to explore the context of this sacred covenant.
[1] Fourteenth
edited extract from pp. 52 – 53 of He Whakaaro Here
Whakaumu Mō Aotearoa – The Report of Matike Mai o Aotearoa
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