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Dear Barry, When I was growing up, we didn’t talk about the Te Tiriti o Waitangi in my household. It never came up, and I didn’t think to ask about it. But about ten years ago, I found myself in a sunny community room at the local library, listening to renowned thinker, the late Moana Jackson share his thoughts with a curious crowd. As one of the only young people in the room, his talk started to fill in the blanks of such an important part of our history. Moana told us about how he and a committed group of people travelled the country to speak with Māori about the future they dreamed of. What started as 30 community meetings, turned into 252! From 2012 to 2015, they met with Māori from all walks of life asking questions about how we can move forward together as a country. These discussions were captured in a report often called Matike Mai, and the hope was to continue to spark a conversation among communities about what a constitution for Aotearoa could look like based on kawa, tikanga, and our country’s founding documents He Whakaputanga (Declaration of Independence) and Te Tiriti o Waitangi (te reo Māori language texts of The Treaty of Waitangi).1 It changed the way that I thought about our country forever. Here are five things I learned from Matike Mai:
1. Te Tiriti o Waitangi created a home for everyone What often gets missed when we talk about Te Tiriti today is it wasn’t just about Māori at all. While hapū and iwi have long histories of governing ourselves, it was the British struggling to ensure their people visiting our shores behaved themselves – and when they didn’t, it put our relationships, including trade, in jeopardy. The 500+ rangatira (leaders) who signed Te Tiriti gave the British the ability to establish governance over their people here, so that everyone could live in peace and continue to seek prosperity, together. In the Matike Mai hui, many Māori believed that Te Tiriti was inclusive and invited newcomers to become a Tangata Tiriti (person of the Treaty) and call this country home. Just as Māori had a sense of belonging here, they made it possible for others to have the same security and connection to this beautiful country. The intention was never that Māori would stop governing themselves, simply because British settlers were allowed to set up their own governance. There was a place here for all of us, and we could each look after our people as we saw fit.
2. Te Tiriti o Waitangi is about a relationship It’s easy to get stuck in talk about treaty principles, but at its heart - Te Tiriti is about an enduring relationship between two different, independent peoples. Moana would often talk about how hapū and iwi had a history of making treaties and