Ōu Pātai Paraire – Whangaroa Papa Hapū

ŌU PĀTAI PARAIRE | Your Questions, Explained

Questions are part of understanding any process — and sometimes the simplest pātai can open the door to a much bigger kōrero.

Ōu Pātai Paraire takes some of the questions that arise around Whangaroa’s historical claims and explores the information behind them in a clear and straightforward way.

One pātai at a time.

What Happens When Hapū Interests Overlap?

Whenua does not always sit neatly within the story of just one hapū.

Through whakapapa, occupation, ahi kā, customary use and relationships built over generations, more than one hapū can have an interest or connection to the same whenua, awa, moana or other wāhi.

When those interests meet in the same place, they are often described as overlapping interests.

But an overlap does not necessarily mean the interests are the same.

One hapū may have a long history of occupation in a place. Another may have whakapapa connections, customary use, wāhi tapu or other historical associations there.

...

Nor does an overlap automatically mean there is a dispute.

What it can mean is that hapū need to understand what each other’s interests are, where they come from, and how they relate to one another.

That may involve whakapapa, kōrero tuku iho, historical evidence and the knowledge held within each hapū. It may also mean sitting together kanohi ki te kanohi and working through areas where interests are shared, different or contested.

Sometimes there will be agreement.

Sometimes there may be different understandings of the history or of the nature and extent of an interest.

And sometimes those kōrero may take time.

The important point is that identifying an overlap does not, on its own, decide the relationship between those interests.

It identifies a place where the interests of more than one hapū need to be understood and recognised.

And where those interests meet, the kōrero belongs with the hapū themselves.

What Does “Full and Final” Mean?

You may have heard the words “full and final” when people talk about Treaty settlements.

It is a phrase that can sound pretty absolute.

So what is actually being made full and final?

In a Treaty settlement, “full and final” refers to the historical claims that are defined and covered by that settlement.

A settlement defines both the claimant group and the historical claims being settled. Historical claims generally concern Crown acts or omissions before 21 September 1992, although the particular Deed of Settlement and settlement legislation set out exactly what is covered.

...

“Full and final” has a real legal effect.

Once a settlement takes effect, those historical claims are settled and cannot be taken back to the Waitangi Tribunal or the courts for further inquiry or redress, subject to the provisions of the particular settlement legislation.

This can also include particular Wai claims, but only to the extent that they relate to the historical claims covered by the settlement.

But “full and final” has a defined scope.

It does not mean that every issue between the claimant group and the Crown — now and for all time — has been settled.

Nor does it mean Crown acts or omissions outside the historical claims defined in the settlement are themselves made “full and final” by that settlement.

And it does not mean the history disappears, or that everything that was lost has been restored.

What becomes full and final is the settlement of the historical claims defined and covered by that settlement.

So when we hear the words “full and final”, two important pātai are:

Who is included in the claimant group?

And what historical claims are actually being settled?

Hei pānui anō:

Te Tari Whakatau — Treaty settlement information

The relevant Deed of Settlement and settlement legislationRead more…

What is Resumption?

You may have heard the word resumption when people talk about historical Treaty claims.

So what does it mean?

Resumption is a particular remedy that sits within the jurisdiction of the Waitangi Tribunal and relates specifically to land.

When the Tribunal finds a claim well-founded, it can recommend remedies to address the harm caused by a Treaty breach.

For resumption, the Tribunal has special powers that apply to particular categories of land, including Crown forest land subject to a Crown forestry licence and certain land with statutory memorials recorded on its title.

...

So what is memorialised land?

When certain Crown land was transferred out of Crown ownership, a memorial was placed on its title. That memorial preserves the Tribunal’s power to consider its return through the remedies process.

A memorial does not mean the land will automatically be returned. Today, some memorialised land is privately owned.

What does that mean here in Whangaroa?

We know Ōtangaroa appears on Toitū Te Whenua LINZ’s current list of Crown forestry licences.

But that still leaves some important pātai:

What land does that forestry licence actually cover?

How many memorialised titles are there — and where are they?

To understand what resumption could mean for Whangaroa, we first need to know what land here actually falls within those provisions.

Hei pānui anō:

Waitangi Tribunal — Memorialised land (section 27B)

Treaty of Waitangi Act 1975 — ss 8A–8HI

Toitū Te Whenua LINZ — Crown forestry licences

What Is Redress?

One kupu that comes up a lot when we’re talking about our historical grievances is redress.

But what does it mean?

Redress is about acknowledging what happened and finding ways to make amends.

In the historical Treaty settlement process, redress is the word used for the different ways the Crown can acknowledge and respond to historical Treaty breaches and the harm that followed.

And it isn’t just about money.

...

Redress can include acknowledging and recording what happened.

It can include a formal Crown apology.

It can involve whenua, wāhi tapu, taonga, place names, the natural environment and other things of cultural significance.

And it can include financial and commercial redress.

Often, it is a combination of these things.

Perhaps the simplest way to understand it is:

The grievance tells the story of what happened and the harm caused. Redress is about what can be done in response.

But redress doesn’t erase the past.

An apology cannot change what happened.

Money cannot put a value on generations of loss.

And reconnecting people with whenua, places or taonga cannot necessarily restore everything that was lost along the way.

That is why redress is probably better understood as an attempt to acknowledge the wrong and make amends for it, rather than somehow making everything right again.

And it doesn’t look exactly the same everywhere.

Different historical grievances have led to different forms of redress across Aotearoa.

So when we hear people talking about redress for historical grievances, it doesn’t simply mean compensation.

It raises a much bigger pātai:

What can making amends actually look like?

Who Sits Behind a Wai Claim?

When we see a Wai number, we will usually also see the name of a claimant — or sometimes several claimants.

Those names carry a story of their own.

They are the people who stepped forward to carry the claim. For many, that meant years of research, gathering kōrero and evidence, attending hui, working with lawyers and eventually standing before the Waitangi Tribunal.

That mahi asked a lot of those who carried it.

For many, there was also a deeply personal and emotional responsibility in giving voice to the experiences of their people.

...

But the name beside a Wai number doesn’t always tell us the whole story.

Under the Waitangi Tribunal process, a claim can be brought by Māori about harm they themselves have experienced, or about harm experienced by a group of Māori of which they are a member. Claimants are asked to identify the people they represent — which might include whānau, hapū or iwi.

So when we want to understand one of our Whangaroa claims, there are a few things worth looking at.

Who brought the claim?

But also:

Who did they bring it for?

What grievance were they carrying?

What whenua and people did it concern?

And what did the claim itself actually say?

Sometimes the kōrero may be particular to an individual or whānau.

Sometimes it reaches across a hapū, whenua and generations.

And sometimes those things sit together.

That doesn’t diminish the person who stepped forward.

In many cases, it helps us better understand the significance of what they were carrying.

Because behind a Wai number there can be much more than a name.

There can be whānau.

There can be hapū.

There can be whenua, whakapapa and generations of history.

All of these are part of the story our claims carry.

What is a Wai Claim?

We hear them often — Wai 58, Wai 230, Wai 919, Wai 1040…

But what actually is a Wai claim?

A Wai claim begins when Māori bring a claim to the Waitangi Tribunal alleging that an action, inaction, law or policy of the Crown has breached Te Tiriti o Waitangi and caused harm.

If the claim meets the requirements to be registered, the Waitangi Tribunal gives it a Wai number — “Wai” being short for Waitangi Tribunal claim.

So a Wai number is a reference number for a claim.

...

Behind that number, though, can sit generations of history — whenua, whakapapa, Crown actions, promises, loss and the experiences of whānau and hapū.

So where does Wai 1040 come in?

This is where it can get confusing.

Wai 1040 is the Te Paparahi o Te Raki Inquiry.

Rather than hundreds of northern claims being heard entirely on their own, the Waitangi Tribunal brought claims together through this wider district inquiry.

Te Paparahi o Te Raki inquired into around 415 claims brought by hapū from across Te Raki.

That included the claims and evidence brought forward by our people from Whangaroa.

There is one other thing worth knowing.

Being given a Wai number did not mean the Tribunal had decided that a claim was proven. Nor did registration itself establish that the named claimant was the authorised representative of everybody on whose behalf the claim was made.

Registration was the administrative step that allowed the claim to enter the Tribunal process.

And perhaps that is the most useful way to think about it:

The Wai number identifies the claim.

The inquiry is where the claim is investigated.

The kōrero behind it is the history of our people.

There is also another layer to this story too.

Not all Waitangi Tribunal claims sit in the same space. There is an important difference between historical claims and contemporary claims — and understanding that difference helps explain what can happen after a claim has been heard.

Ka hoki anō tātou ki tēnā kōrero.

Who Does Whangaroa Papa Hapū Represent?

Who does Whangaroa Papa Hapū (WPH) represent?

He pātai nui tēnei, and one worth slowing down.

From the beginning, much of WPH mahi has been about facilitating.

During the Waitangi Tribunal hearings process, that meant supporting claimants and hapū to bring forward their own histories, grievances and kōrero.

As we shared last week, when Whangaroa Papa Hapū was formed, the whakaaro was to create a space that considered all hapū of Whangaroa, not only those connected to particular claims.

...

WPH didn’t become the voice of the claimant, nor did becoming Whangaroa Papa Hapū mean it suddenly became the voice of every hapū.

Its mahi has been to help create the space, support and resources for our people to bring forward their own kōrero.

That same whakaaro still guides the mahi today.

And it is worth remembering just how long this journey has been.

The hearings began more than a decade ago. Years of research, evidence, wānanga and kōrero went into getting the historical grievances of Whangaroa heard.

Since then, WPH has tried to keep that kaupapa moving.

That has meant doing more than waiting for the next hui.

It has meant developing information, putting ideas on the table and, more recently, preparing a draft Mandate Strategy for our people to consider.

Why?

Because sometimes kōrero has to create a pathway for action.

Hapū spaces are where the important decisions need to happen, but those conversations do not always begin on their own.

Sometimes something has to be put on the table before people can respond to it, challenge it, reshape it or put forward another way.

So when we hear the pātai:

Who does WPH represent?

Whangaroa Papa Hapū works to progress a collective kaupapa concerning ngā hapū o Whangaroa.

There is an important difference between working for a shared kaupapa and speaking for a hapū.

The shared kaupapa is the mahi that concerns us collectively — progressing the historical grievances of Whangaroa and creating a pathway for our people to consider.

The authority to speak for hapū belongs to the hapū itself.

As we walk this journey, it is hapū who decide who they trust to carry their voice in this space, what authority they give them, and how those people remain accountable back to their hapū.

WPH’s role is to keep facilitating the process — creating the space for ngā hapū o Whangaroa to have the kōrero, make the decisions and determine the way foward themselves.

He aha te Whakapapa o Whangaroa Papa Hapū?

Our story begins in 1993.

That year, Te Taumata o Tangitū was established as a stand-alone body to support research associated with the Wai 58 claim and the Otangaroa forests.

Around the table were kaumātua, claimants, whānau and kaimahi whose names will be familiar to many across Whangaroa.

Hiwi Tauroa was the Wai 58 claimant, Te Uru Heta was chair and Nuki Aldridge was coordinator. Alongside them were Poihakena Kira, Leo Bowman, Paraire Eruera, Dan Pehi, Nancy Harris and Hariata Strongman.

...

The kaimahi included Pat Tauroa, Doreen Puru, Aroha Harris, Pita Pangari, Lucy Te Awa, Tony Tuoro, Reuben Taniora, Anania Hohaia and Kawhi Kārena.

These were some of the people who carried the research and claims mahi forward.

As the journey continued, the kaupapa grew.

Other Whangaroa claimants began working collaboratively through Te Taumata o Tangitū.

The kaupapa was no longer only about one claim.

And an important whakaaro emerged:

How could all hapū of Whangaroa have a place to participate in this journey — whether or not they held an individual claim?

It was from this collective mahi that Te Taumata o Tangitū was renamed Whangaroa Papa Hapū.

The reason recorded for the change was:

“to ensure that all hapū of Whangaroa would be able to participate whether or not they held an individual claim.”

And this is what sits behind the name Whangaroa Papa Hapū.

Whangaroa Papa Hapū was not created as another hapū.

The name reflected a kaupapa that had grown — creating a papa, a place for the hapū of Whangaroa to come together and participate in the claims journey.

So the name itself carries a whakapapa:

1993 — Te Taumata o Tangitū

↓

Research and claims mahi

↓

Whangaroa claimants working collectively

↓

A kaupapa broadening to include all hapū

↓

Whangaroa Papa Hapū

Today, the journey continues.

Many of those who sat around the tables before us are no longer here. But their mahi forms part of the whakapapa we have inherited.

So when we hear the name Whangaroa Papa Hapū, we are hearing more than the name of an organisation.

We are hearing the story of those who came before us, the mahi they carried, and an intention that all hapū of Whangaroa should have a place to participate.

That is why knowing our whakapapa matters.

Before we look at where the kaupapa is heading, it is important that we understand where it came from.

Mā Whangaroa a Whangaroa anō e kōrero.