After 25 years, Whakatōhea to settle with Crown later this year

Friday, 17 July 2020

The Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations met with the Whakatohea Pre Settlement Claims Trust, Whakatohea iwi members and hapu leaders at Waiaua Marae outside Opotiki

The imminent settlement between Whakatōhea and the Crown is not the end of their relationship, but rather marks the beginning of its restoration, Andrew Little said.

The Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations met with the Whakatōhea Pre Settlement Claims Trust, Whakatōhea iwi members and hapū leaders at Waiaua Marae outside Ōpōtiki yesterday to discuss settlement negotiations with the aim of initialling a Deed of Settlement later this year.

Whakatōhea is in the unique situation of negotiating a settlement as well as engaging in Waitangi Tribunal proceedings in parallel. It is the first iwi to do so.

After being welcomed to the marae, Mr Little was treated to some kai before korero began in the afternoon. Danny Paruru and Muriel Smith-Kelly opened the talks by discussing the wrongs inflicted upon the iwi by the Crown in the past.

Mr Paruru said before colonisation, Whakatōhea had mana whenua over 491,000 acres of land but now, following raupatu, only 15,300 acres still belonged to the iwi.

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He said Whakatōhea hapū were forced from their land into the Opape Native Reserve, a reserve allocated for “rebels” who had surrendered to the Crown.

“A white man rode on a horse with gun and whip in hand to lead our people here,” he said.

Mr Paruru said all the hapu were forced onto unproductive land, which used to belong only to Ngāti Rua. As famine set in, so did fights amongst themselves for the inadequate area of fertile land.

Mrs Smith-Kelly said she was a “product” of the native reserve and reiterated Mr Paruru’s point that only 20 percent of the land they were forced onto was usable for growing kai. She said if some of the land hadn’t bordered the ocean, many more would have starved to death.

“The first people (pākehā) that came to Ōpōtiki could scarcely believe their eyes, as they looked around. They saw our bridges, our roads and kai for miles,” Mrs Smith-Kelly said. “They couldn’t work out how we had done it as we were brown.”

She said her people were too successful for the Crown and so it did “crushing, hurtful” things to them.

“We were a strong warrior race; we were used to defending our borders as we had a perfect place we had to protect,” she said. “That was okay until they came with guns and we had patu and taiaha.”

Mrs Smith-Kelly told the story of a nanny she knew who kept vegetable gardens and orchards across her land in an effort to prove she owned it to the pākehā, who often took land they deemed unused.

She said raupatu didn’t just take the iwi land, but also its knowledge and spiritual connection to the environment.

Mr Little said he appreciated the history recounted by the two speakers and said in his role as treaty minister he had been receiving a rich education in the history of Aotearoa, which had not been told for so long.

“History has been told by the victors for so long but that is not the full story of Aotearoa; it’s not the full story of te ao Māori and it is not the story of Whakatōhea,” he said.

Mr Little said it was important the Waitangi Tribunal hearings continued alongside the settlement process as it allowed for these stories to be told and recorded.

He said these stories had been buried but the iwi still carried them and the mamae (hurt) of what happened in its heart.In response to questioning, Mr Little said stories like these would inform compulsory New Zealand history classes in schools going forward.

“Settlement sounds like it is the end of something, but really it is an agreement over the Crown’s failures in its Treaty obligations,” he said. “Settlement is not the ending but is a beginning of the restoration of a relationship.”

Mr Little said there were still some loose ends to tie up in regard to the settlement and he expected it should be finalised before the end of the year, whether or not he was still the minister following the elections.

When the deed of settlement is initialled it will mark the end of 25 years of Whakatōhea settlement negotiations. The settlement will then contribute to a brighter future for the iwi and its hapū.

Following the kōrero at the marae, Mr Little was taken to key historic sites in the area before talks resumed privately about the iwi and Crown’s aspirations for the future.

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