During the two-day conference, which had the theme Ko te Tōrino: Haere Whakamua, Haere Whakamuri, over 200 participants gathered to reflect on the role of the Waitangi Tribunal in addressing historical, contemporary, and future Te Tiriti o Waitangi claims, and consider how the Tribunal compares with international approaches to hearing indigenous peoples’ claims.
The sessions included over a dozen Te Herenga Waka alumni and incorporated the launch of Dr Carwyn Jones and Professor Maria Bargh’s book 50 Years of the Waitangi Tribunal.
“We were delighted to host such an essential event here at Ngā Mokopuna. The name of the building itself aligns with why we support the mahi of the Tribunal—it is for our mokopuna,” says Professor Rawinia Higgins, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Māori and Kaitiakitanga and former Tribunal member.
Sir Edward Taihakurei Durie, who chaired the Tribunal from 1980 to 2004, delivered the opening address in which he reflected on the ‘seismic shift’ the Tribunal had caused in New Zealand.
“You go back 50 years ago and we were talking assimilation, we were talking that there will be just one people and we all had to be the same. What we are thinking now is that unity and peace comes from respecting difference, not from assuming… that we all must be the same or that one group is dominant over another. We’ve made a seismic shift in New Zealand.”
In a piece on E-Tangata, Dr Carwyn Jones explains the Tribunal “has made an immense contribution to our understanding of Te Tiriti, our history and our national identity, and has shown us a pathway towards more just constitutional relationships in Aotearoa.”
Past and present staff of Te Herenga Waka that participated in or chaired sessions alongside Rawinia and Carwyn included Chief Judge Caren Fox, Dr Paul Hamer, Professor Geoffrey Palmer, Professor Peter Adds, Dr Luke Fitzmaurice-Brown, Ria Holmes, and Associate Professor Lara Greaves.
In one of the sessions, focused on learnings for the future, four lawyers who regularly see each other from different sides of the treaty negotiation table—Matanuku Mahuika, Dr Season-Mary Downs, Andrew Irwin, and Craig Linkhorn—spoke to their hopes for the future of the Tribunal.
They agreed that there is a place in our current Tribunal in scrutinising current issues, with Matanuku explaining that the value of the Tribunal is the interdisciplinarity of it—you need the evidence from history, to make contemporary judgements. He sees a challenge ensuring it remains relevant without damaging the past.
In summing up the conference at the end of the second day, Rawinia noted that the speakers had shared a range of different and rich perspectives.
“We have acknowledged and celebrated the many people and ideas that have carried the Tribunal through its first 50 years— its twists and turns, past and present. Together, we have built a strong base for the next 50, and beyond.”
If you missed the conference but want to spend time considering the past and present of the Waitangi Tribunal, a good starting point is 50 Years of the Waitangi Tribunal—Whakamana i te Tiriti, edited by Dr Carwyn Jones and Professor Maria Bargh.