True/False Explanations
Explanations: These are the explanations for each question (click on the drop down arrow to the right of each statement to reveal the answer). Take a moment to review the explanation for any questions you got wrong.
The first migrants from Eastern Polynesia (Kupe and Toi) arrived by canoe between AD 800 and AD 900
Examples of discrimination included in legislation are Old Age Pension, West Coast Protection, pubs/cinemas; in regulations are unemployment benefit. De facto discrimination (not written as against Māori but having that effect) – land legislation, F & S (see UN HR Committee finding re Foreshore & Seabed)
Treating everyone identically isn’t fair because people aren’t identical. Consider needing to pass a test as part of a job application – everyone receives identical questions, however, imagine if the questions were all in te reo; note that for many reasons, even using English doesn’t give everyone the same chance in NZ today.
Māori: Moriori relationship is like English in England to English descendants in the US. The questions of who came here first and when are still debated, but it’s generally accepted that the people now called Moriori were a group of Māori who migrated to the Chatham Islands, perhaps around the 14th century, and developed a distinctive culture there.
Originally the NZ Government took 3 million acres to punish the ‘rebels’; although there were so many irregularities that the British Crown forced the government to return about half. Most land was taken by legislation, so that by 1930, in New Zealand as a whole, only about 3.6 million acres remained in Māori freehold title, much of it useless for commercial farming.
A culture is a lifestyle shared by a large group of people; characteristics of Pākeha culture include speaking English, celebrating Christmas, women wearing skirts and/or pants but men wearing pants, food, etc.
Apartheid was a policy whereby the dominant group forced a marginalized group to be separate; with separate development a minority group is, in some cases, choosing to be separate. Another difference is that apartheid was based on race whereas separate development is based on culture e.g., kohanga reo which welcomes people of any race who are committed to this intiative to renormalise the Māori language.
According to Lord Normanby, who sent Captain Hobson here to negotiate a Treaty, the main reason was to protect Māori from the consequences of European settlement.
In 1836, the British Crown explicitly recognised the sovereignty of the hapū as stated in the Declaration of Independence. See Ngapuhi Speaks, 2012, the independent report on the Ngapuhi Waitangi Tribunal hearings.
The protest began as early as the 1840s when Hone Heke cut the flagstaff down and a delegation was led by Aperahama Taonui to protest to Queen Victoria.
These are both significant issues today but weren’t in 1840; the essence of the Treaty in 1840 was the proposed relationship between the Crown and the hapū and how land transactions would be managed
Tangata whenua had their own education systems long before Europeans arrived; in particular see Broken Thread by Richard Benton in relation to Māori tertiary education systems
The four Māori seats were established to restrict Māori representation in Parliament. At the time Māori were 40% of the population and 17% of the voters but their seats were only 5% of the total. They were restricted to the Māori Roll until 1975; representation was not proportional for Māori on Māori Roll until 1996 with MMP; this raises issues about the concept of ‘democracy’ for Māori.
A significant purpose of the Department was to ‘speed alienation of land in Māori title’. The function of the Department of Native/Māori Affairs was to implement govt policy regarding Māori, which has often been contrary to what Māori want. In 1989 the Department of Māori Affairs was replaced by two new organisations – the Ministry of Māori Affairs (Manatū Māori) and the Iwi Transition Agency (Te Tira Ahu Iwi). In 1992 both new organisations were replaced by Te Puni Kōkiri, the Ministry of Māori Development.
As leader of the Kingitanga movement, established in 1858 as response to Treaty violations, s/he only speaks for that group. The title of Te Arikinui is not peculiar to him or her – it applies to any high-ranking chief.
Treaties are between sovereign parties, not between cultures; The Treaty of Waitangi was between British Crown and some hapū (the basic political unit of Māori society). Many hapū didn’t sign for a variety of different reasons.
None of the hapū ever agreed to NZ becoming a country which would have higher authority than their own; it was various subsequent acts of colonisation by the Crown which established NZ as a sovereign nation, beginning with Hobson’s proclamation to that effect in May 1840.
It is only recognised by the courts in relation to Acts that refer to the Treaty (based on the Privy Council Tukino decision). Those Acts generally refer to (ambiguously defined) ‘principles’ rather than the Treaty itself.
The Treaty only says that Māori will have the rights of English people; it doesn’t say that Māori will lose their rights as tangata whenua or that settlers will be given Māori rights
The Treaty of Waitangi Act 1975, which established the Tribunal, specifically stated that the Tribunal may only make recommendations to the Government. The Government then makes the final decision about what action, if any, to take; the only exception is in relation to a clause in the State Owned Enterprises Act.