Tiriti o Waitangi: Education and conversation essential to New Zealand becoming one

Wednesday, 5 February 2020

Members of Parliament are welcomed onto the Waitangi treaty grounds with a pōwhiri on Tuesday.

Academics are hopeful an improved teaching of New Zealand history in schools will help the nation's understanding of te Tiriti o Waitangi and spark conversations about redress.

Thursday marks the anniversary of the signing of te Tiriti o Waitangi between the Crown and some iwi – both sides with their own ambitions of what it would mean for their people.

Many view it as simply a day off work or school, for a trip to the beach or spending time with family, and centred on politicking in the Bay of Islands town.

As the nation enters the 180th year of the agreement, the commemoration is still marred by grievances of kai moana, rangatiratanga and whenua.

Post graduate kaiako Tania Riwai from Te Wānanga o Aotearoa feels hope, pride and sadness reflecting on Tiriti o Waitangi.

* What do this Waitangi Day and weekend

* Let's get over our Waitangi Day shame**

Tania Riwai, a post graduate kaiako from Te Wānanga o Aotearoa, puts people's holiday focus of the day down to a lack of education and unwillingness to have tough conversations.

The 45-year-old said New Zealander's hold a range of views about Waitangi and what Waitangi Day represents – often with a limited understanding of what Māori thought they were agreeing to and the repercussions they have faced since.

'Unless you know, you don't know, and it'll just become a day of putting on a sunhat and going to a music festival and that's it.'

Waitangi Day should always be a political day, Dr Peter Meihana says.

'Our experience of what Waitangi means to us is only based on what we know, and generally we don't know a lot of the real stories, or the true stories of what went on.

'Until we start to have some critical conversations about what the Treaty of Waitangi is - with our children, with our teenagers and with each other that deal with really big issues like fear and shame and guilt and courage – then we can't start to move forward.'

New Zealand history will be taught in all schools and kura by 2022, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced in September last year, encouraging schools to teach their pupils about te Tiriti o Waitangi, the arrival of European settlers and evolution of national identity with cultural plurality.

Riwai hopes by educating youth about the nation's past they will gain a greater understanding about New Zealand's history and why, as Māori reach their fifth generation since the treaty signing, there continues to be grievances and challenges between iwi and the Crown.

'If you're grandmother had a precious ring that was taken from here that she wanted to hand down for generations to her children, I'm sure she would fight to get that back, that's all we're doing.'

Massey University historian Dr Peter Meihana, 45, agreed that more robust education would help people feel more comfortable discussing the controversial topic.

If only a few people had a comprehensive understanding of New Zealand history the country wouldn't develop as one nation, Meihana said.

'If you're not working with the youngest cohort there's not much chance of changing the discourse of the future. Just ignoring it and moving on does not change the facts. It may make people feel happy and cosy for a while but it doesn't actually change anything.

'It's like a relationship, just ignoring something in a relationship doesn't make it go away, it makes it probably worse.

Introducing more historical perspectives into children's learning would make a difference in how society acknowledged February 6, but its impact wasn't going to be immediate, he said.