Te Rūnanga-ā-Iwi o Ngāti Kahu
Land Claims Report for September 2020
Waitangi Tribunal – preparing claims for hearing
We are still seeing people asking to be included in the inquiry by the Tribunal into all outstanding claims throughout Te Hiku o Te Ika. Everyone has been asked to justify why they should be included. Our lawyers have responded that many should not be included for many differing reasons, most often that their interests lie outside the inquiry area in Ngāpuhi and Whangaroa territories. The Crown has also questioned the participation of some, including Uncle McCully Matiu’s primary claims for Ngāti Kahu (Wai 17 and 22) that Reremoana Rēnata and I now lead. These are the only claims that have already been upheld. The Crown is being quite shameless in trying to have the Tribunal dismiss them! We have let the Tribunal know that the Crown is being disingenuous and is misguided.
Over the next month our legal team will complete the Outline of Claims that is to be filed in the Tribunal by 20 October. The Tribunal’s instructions are that the Outline of Claims are to summarise the nature of the allegations the claimants intend to make against the Crown, and the historical period to which those allegations relate. The Outline of Claims will also identify, in relation to each claim, the sources of evidence upon which the claimant
expects to rely. If further evidence is required, its nature and extent should be described
as far as possible.
Just a reminder about the matters to be addressed at the next judicial conference taking place on Friday, 27 November 2020 at Taipā:
a) the Outlines of Claims to be filed in October 2020 and the scope of the inquiry;
b) the existing evidence, whether more is required, and the scope and scale of any further research; and
c) the legal status of Dame Evelyn Stokes’s work in this inquiry, if the claims extend past 1865 (Wai 45, #R8).
Professor Margaret Mutu
18 September 2020