Whānau and Hapū of Ngāti Wai were given no options in a mandate recognised by the Crown to settle their treaty grievances. It’s a key finding of the Waitangi Tribunal following an urgent hearing into claims that the Crown had undermined their rangatiratanga in giving the Ngāti Wai Trust Board a mandate to settle on their behalf.
Trust Board Chair Haydn Edmonds says, "Two things I'm really happy about. First one is that in the recommendations they haven't sought to take away our mandate. So there was nothing about taking away the mandate, I'm happy about that! The other thing is they've identified the Crown process as being onerous and as being a problem for us but I'm happy to address those issues.
Ngāti Wai ki Whangaruru claimants were heartened to see the tribunal giving equitable weight in its findings to tikanga as it did to "the law".
Wai 1509 claimant Mylie George is of the Te Uri o Hikihiki and Ngāti Te Rahingahinga hapū, "What’s most important for our whānau hapū and claimants is that our voice is heard within the process and it really wasn't. The claimant definition was a huge thing for us, it really severed some of our whānau relationships with each other and I think the snapshot quick fix of the Crown forcing the Ngāti Wai Trust Board meet their deadlines and their timeframe as opposed to a settlement that's fair and just really brought us to that position last year which was the urgency hearing."
Mr Edmonds says the debate over a post-settlement entity to lead Ngāti Wai forward needs to continue, "What I don't want to see is Ngāti Wai being lost in the mix. We are Ngāti Wai, we are people who have occupied this whenua for a long long time. The Crown process pushed a whole lot of other Wai claims together with us and they talk about exit strategies for those people. Let's have the conversation about that then."
Ms George says claimant groups have maintained a keen observation of the Crowns endeavours to settle the prominent tribes in Northland, "It is very divisive and we know that from Tuhoronuku and Te Kotahitanga for instance in Ngapuhi, where six weeks after the urgency hearing there they came into Ngāti Wai and started doing the same thing here. And so we have examples of where the Crown has forever been divisive and we really wanted to learn from that and tried to work with the Ngāti Wai Trust Board and it’s been a long journey over six years.
In a substantial report, the Tribunal has recommended a pause in the negotiations process to enable mediation or facilitated discussions to seek agreed and acceptable solutions to the issues identified.
Ms George says, "It’s really about acknowledging the way that we coordinate ourselves the way that we define ourselves as whānau hapū and iwi within Ngāti Wai, which has been really important and the crown through their foiled process and breaches of Te Tiriti really messed that whole situation up acknowledging an entity that really hadn't done the homework to get the full support that they need to push through this mandating process."
What remains to be seen is how the new government and a new minister of treaty negotiations will handle this situation. Mr Edmonds said, "This is about an entire race of people. This is about us all getting together whānau to whanau and the hapū to determine that pathway forward so we will have those conversations."