Te Rūnanga-ā-Iwi o Ngāti Kahu
Land Claims Report for July 2020
1. Waitangi Tribunal – preparing claims for hearing
2. Request to meet re: Kohumaru
3. National Iwi Chairs Forum hui 6-7 August, Ōtaki
Summary
• No change from last month. We are still awaiting directions from the Waitangi Tribunal on the next steps in preparation for hearing our claim for binding recommendations. COVID-19 prevented a hui of all claimants and that has still to take place.
• We have received a request from Pat Tauroa for a hui to discuss Kohumaru station that we need to discuss.
• National Iwi Chairs Forum’s next meeting is scheduled for 6-7 August in Ōtaki.
3. National Iwi Chairs Forum hui 6-7 August, Ōtaki
The Forum’s next hui is scheduled to take place in Ōtaki but it may become another zoom hui if the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic worsens.
Ngāti Raukawa is hosting it at Te Wānanga o Raukawa’s beautiful facilities. The agenda papers will hopefully be circulated in time for me to report on them at our upcoming Rūnanga hui-ā-marama.
In the meantime, for Pou Tikanga, there has been a lot of activity. We are seeing increasing interest in the work on constitutional transformation and Matike Mai Aotearoa. As I reported last month, there has been really encouraging engagement with the social media based Aotearoa2020Vision campaign as we look for a vision statement for the country. The Human Rights Commission has partnered with us for this and is developing its own plan to transition to a Tiriti-based organisation. Both Professor Jane Kelsey and I delivered seminars for them on what they needed to aim for. If this is successful, it will provide a model in this area. Jessica Ngātai from the Commission has once again helped us with drafting the Monitoring Mechanism’s annual report. This is the sixth report we have made to the United Nations Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous People.
Progress on the government front has been disappointing. Nanaia Mahuta is continuing to delay the release of the report of the Declaration Working Party on a National Plan of Action to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (we included this in our report to the UN’s EMRIP). She received it on 1 November last year. Kelvin Davis has written saying the repudiation of the Doctrine of Discovery is not a government priority. While such a dismissive response is disappointing, it is not unexpected. It simply confirms the government’s unwillingness to bring to an end White Supremacy and racism. The international Black Lives Matter campaign has highlighted the devastation that results from ignoring the impacts of this disease and the importance of eliminating it.
Professor Margaret Mutu
17 July 2020