Whakarongo ki te tai e papaki ana; Listen to the sounds of the changing tides. Nā Wi Parata Te Kākākura.

Every year on February 6, Aotearoa New Zealand marks the signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, the Treaty of Waitangi, in 1840. Waitangi Day 2021 marks 181 years since it was signed. This year the public holiday is observed today (February 8), as the closest Monday.

For most people, Waitangi Day is a holiday; for many it is also a time to reflect on the Treaty and its relevance today. 

The Treaty is the agreement signed by the representatives of the Queen of England of the time and leaders of most Māori tribes, when Britain first claimed New Zealand as a colony in 1840.

There were nine versions of the Treaty, all taken to different areas around Aotearoa New Zealand for signing.

Waitangi Day is now recognised as New Zealand’s national day. Since the 1970s, the style and mood of commemorations each Waitangi Day have been a result of ongoing debates surrounding the place of Te Tiriti in modern Aotearoa New Zealand.

Debate stems from the fact that the parties involved – the Rangatira (chiefs) and New Zealand’s first governor William Hobson, on behalf of the British Crown, had different understandings of what they signed and different expectations of what authority they could exercise after its signing.

Today, there are two accepted versions: a Māori text known as Te Tiriti o Waitangi and the English version called the Treaty of Waitangi. Under law both are accepted as the Treaty of Waitangi, but they are both significantly different in meaning.

Copies of Te Tiriti o Waitangi were taken around Aotearoa New Zealand for signing. IMAGE: Archives NZ

Te Tiriti speaks of the chiefs maintaining their tino rangatiratanga (authority) over their taonga (all that they hold precious, including the Māori language). The chiefs allowed the Queen to have kāwanatanga, a nominal and delegated authority so that she could control her people. 

On the other hand, the treaty in English tells us that the chiefs ceded their sovereignty to the crown while retaining full, exclusive and undisturbed possession over their lands, estates, forests and fisheries.

The cumulative impact of subsequently introduced legislation and policies led to systemic colonisation and Māori protests at violations of both treaties. Eventually, the 1975 Treaty of Waitangi Act was introduced, then the 1985 amendment. 

This gave us the Waitangi Tribunal, which provided a process to hear claims about breaches of the treaty, typically the taking of land and resources from Māori. The tribunal found in 2014 that Māori did not in fact cede their sovereignty in signing the treaty. It also introduced principles which embodied the intention of both treaties in an attempt to mediate the differences in the two versions.

The Waitangi Tribunal states there is not a single, defined set of Treaty principles that are to be applied. However over the years, some core principles have emerged from Tribunal reports. The Tribunal’s Te Whānau o Waipareira Report in 1998 noted the overarching principles of the Treaty of Waitangi are partnership, active protection and redress.

“Partnership thus serves to describe a relationship where one party is not subordinate to the other but where each must respect the other’s status and authority in all walks of life. In this situation neither rights of autonomy nor rights of governance are absolute but each must be conditioned by the other’s needs and duties of mutual respect.”

Māori Heritage Council chair Sir John Clarke KNZM, CNZM, says the application of Treaty principles is hugely important in helping us define our national identity.

“In 1840 when our ancestors signed Te Tiriti, it was protection they were seeking – protection for our people, our land, our past.

“The importance of the treaty still today is the protection it affords us as Māori to seek a fairer and more equal future for our people, our land and our past.”

“As a nation, New Zealanders are enriched when they know the past, and this is the perfect day to do that.

“I wish you and your whanau a day of reflection and celebration of the nation that we are all proud to call home.”