Te Tiriti o Waitangi resource

Philanthropic organisations are increasingly looking to how they can honour te Tiriti through partnership and genuine power-sharing. This resource provides an overview of the issues, and video interviews with four funders sharing their Tiriti journeys with CSI associate Kate Cherrington.

In 1840, Māori made up the vast majority of the New Zealand population and were the undisputed owners of virtually all of the land. However, an increasing number of British citizens were settling in New Zealand, prompting the British Government to draw up a treaty which would help the two races live peacefully together.

Te Tiriti o Waitangi, signed on 6 February 1840 by a Crown representative and over 500 chiefs is, in essence, the founding document of this nation. In summary, te Tiriti:

• gave settlers the right to remain in New Zealand.
• promises Māori that they can continue to own their lands, forests, and fisheries for as long as they wish.
• acknowledges the right of Māori to make their own decisions about their lands and the way they live.
• enabled the establishment of a government to ensure peace and order for all.
• promises to protect all things valuable to Māori.
• gives Māori the same rights as British citizens.

The Treaty was drawn up in two languages – Māori and English. The vast majority of Māori signed the Māori version. There are significant semantic differences between the two versions.

Resources 

• He Tohu A declaration: He Whakaputanga
• He Tohu A treaty: Te Tiriti o Waitangi
•  Te Ara Te Tiriti o Waitangi – the Treaty of Waitangi

Some key points

• See the relationship as reciprocal, not as a funder/applicant relationship. Toi Foundation brings the pūtea. Community organisations do the work. That’s the basis for an ‘equal footing’ relationship.
• Reach out to your community and meet them where they are. Start with a memorandum of understanding (MOU) about the relationship, not funding. Do the mihi before the mahi.
• Build trust by investing in the relationship. Don’t have an ego. It’s about giving people respect and acknowledging that you can learn.
• Appreciate the advantage of having Māori on your board who are well connected leaders within your community.

Watch or listen below to hear how Toi Foundation approach this.

Some key points

• Build knowledge and understanding of the history - understanding the context for te Tiriti is important.
• Relationships with each of the Papatipu Rūnaka builds understanding of the issues, challenges and opportunities to work together to support the community.
• Make te Tiriti commitment visible through greater use of the Trust’s te reo name, Te Pou Arataki Pounamu o Murihiku, using te reo greetings, people learning their pepeha.
• Be aware of the advantage of "mana i te whenua" representation and the concept of whakapapa. This brings a long-term view that encourages the development of strategies that are beyond any single person's lifetime.

Watch or listen below to hear how Community Trust South approach this.

Some key points

The Trust is guided by te ao Māori and the principles of the Kiingitanga, the principle of unity, where Māori and non-Māori come together.

• Mana whenua relationship and influence guides us on how we act, behave and can best serve all of community
• ‘Anga whakamuri, anga whakamua’, acknowledges the past to embrace the future; and we put this learning into practice
• We take an intergenerational lens in what we do
• A tikanga Māori approach means everyone in the community can see themselves in all that we do as a Trust.
• Fundamental to this approach, is our practice and behaviour of kotahitanga, connection and strong engagement.

Watch or listen below to hear how Trust Waikato approach this.

Some key points

• We consciously enact Māori-led, by Māori, for Māori.
• Partnership and working alongside each other is important. Bringing everyone on the journey is important. What is good for Māori is good for everyone.
• We actively engage and seek feedback from the people we support. Wānanga are key – sharing insights and learnings.
• The constant challenge is to think critically about our decision making and processes. We are conscious we are on a journey. We ask ourselves, are we walking the talk?

Watch or listen below to hear how J R McKenzie Trust approach this.

The interviews in this resource provide a range of insights for taking action for organisations that want to honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Some key themes from the interviews are outlined below. These are around:

• knowledge of te ao Māori and te Tiriti
• relationships and engagement with Maori – participation, partnership and power
• tangata whenua representation and cultural competence
• enabling Māori-led and by Māori for Māori approaches.

Know the history of the treaty – bring staff and trustees along on the journey. Nurture an understanding of te ao Māori throughout the organisation.

"What had already been identified as part of our strategy was a commitment to understanding and living with the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi…We've built in an initial ‘introductory to Treaty of Waitangi’ session as part of trustee induction…so that we can bring the new people up to a certain level of understanding..." Jackie Flutey – Community Trust South

“People need to embrace that te Tiriti is not a scary thing…I think one of the significant key value positions bringing in te Tiriti into your work is that it's actually as inclusive of not only Māori but of all cultures, you know? And everyone should be able to see themselves in the articles.” Rongo Kirkwood - Trust Waikato

“One of our board members who is a te Tiriti educator [has built] a te Tiriti curriculum for the board. So every board meeting, we wānanga and we will keep building on that. I don't want it to be a one off workshop. This is part of our learning journey and commitment.” Chelsea Grootveld – JR McKenzie Trust

“There's quite a lot we've done to try to make that commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi quite visible. Simple things like a much stronger use of our Māori gifted name, Te Pou Arataki Pounamu o Murihiku, the use of te reo greetings across most of our comms and correspondence, having some staff training sessions around pronunciation, people learning their pepeha...[but] we're still very much on a journey...” Jackie Flutey – Community Trust South

“I'm very conscious that when we are leaning into te ao Māori concepts and frameworks, tikanga Māori, that we aren't just appropriating again as a mainstream organization. I took heart from Kiingi Tūheitia, his last speech, and it's called Kotahitanga, and if I can read it here, tikanga Māori, should be at the forefront of being a New Zealander. It's what can unite us because it comes from the land, it brings us together. Let's embrace it at home and use it overseas. And let's celebrate our Māori identity every day. We can all do this and it will help us grow. And those words to me are permissioned in a way that we can lean into this way of thinking without it being seen to be extracting and taking away, of which a lot already has happened.” Dennis Turton - Trust Waikato

Establish trusted and enduring relationships with mana whenua and Māori communities.

• Reach out to mana whenua and Māori communities in a spirit of partnership
• Respect and be guided by Māori trustees, kaumatua, kaimahi in your Trust’s relationship approach
• Focus on the relationship first – the mihi before the mahi
• Hold partnerships that have a balance of power and are based on mutual interests and purposes
• See the relationship as reciprocal, not as a funder/applicant relationship.

“When we were looking for people to help us out, to understand all of this, and we were struggling to connect with people, in fact the answer was right here on our land, and it was right here as mana whenua. It took us a while, but the answer was so obvious that we couldn't see it for our beautiful trees that are out there…” Dennis Turton - Trust Waikato

“[We undertook] heavy engagement across all of our community… particularly with the Papatipu Rūnaka, but also with mātāwaka groups, ensuring that we're building relationships there as well. So it's making sure that we're providing those opportunities for engagement. The most recent is appointing a Pouārahi Māori role to support us to come along on that journey.” Jackie Flutey – Community Trust South

“I think that the important thing is that you just go and you talk to people, whether it be Māori or non -Māori, [and ask] how can we help? Maria Ramsay – Toi Foundation

“We started with MOUs because you've got to start somewhere and they were just about relationships, not about funding. They were about having mutual respect and how we would work together and what it would look like. We've moved on from that. We don't need them anymore.” Maria Ramsay – Toi Foundation

“That's a constant wero and we are blessed because on our staff, we have some very strong kaimahi who challenge us and ask us that question of the board of our processes. How are we sharing power? We do have staff who provoke and challenge.” Chelsea Grootveld – JR McKenzie Trust

Listen and accept you have an opportunity to learn and gain insights

“Giving people the respect and acknowledging that they have knowledge that I don't know. You can learn so much from other people. You don't want to have an ego is probably what it boils down to.” Maria Ramsay - Toi Foundation

Continue to invest in relationships by reaching out and being inclusive

• Wānanga are key – sharing insights and learnings.

“We do actively seek feedback from those people that we support, that we work alongside. And what they tell us is that they feel valued, they appreciate the relational approach. And so, you know, of course, we try to minimise compliance in reporting and that process of koha ta koha, our koha to them and their koha back to us is one of wānanga and sharing insights and learnings. The value for them in doing that, but also the value for them in coming together with other kaikokiri that we support, is being able to build connections, build relationships and learn from others.” Chelsea Grootveld - JR McKenzie Trust

“We have to make time. If we're really serious about making commitments, you have to set aside time. Yeah. And that's about wānanga. That's what wānanga means. It's around being at that moment at that time.” Rongo Kirkwood - Trust Waikato

“There’s an organisation that we have been funding since about 2009, called Why Ora, which is about increasing the number of Māori within the healthcare sector. And that was a real partnership around working with different groups of people around thinking about how we could address an issue and bring about some systemic change and intergenerational change in regards to how Māori are represented within the healthcare sector. It's been a long-term relationship where we're just quite open and honest with each other. And it's not the normal grantee applicant. We've got a trusted relationship where we can explore what's working, what's not. The reporting systems are quite different.” Maria Ramsay – Toi Foundation

Embed a strong te ao Māori cultural understanding, competency, and safety throughout the organisation.

Ensure Māori staff and governors are culturally safe and well supported.

“We're very fortunate on our board, out of nine trustees at the moment, four of those are Māori and very well connected and strong Māori leaders within our community. So that gives us a really good leveraging point too. So we've got people around the table and decision makers, also staff. We have over 50% of our staff are Māori and we have three fluent speakers. So you actually make an environment where, I don't know, it's normal, isn't it? It's just what it is and what you do.” Maria Ramsay – Toi Foundation

“Māori practices should be, in my view, normal. Until that point, it will never be enough…until we get into a space that actually everything shifts into an understanding of those kinds of values.” Mata Cherrington – Community Trust South

Enable Māori leadership to support the balance of power for shared and mutual purposes, capability and impact.

Allow whānau to identify, define, and articulate their aspirations and impact (immediate, short-term, long-term, and intergenerational).

“I firmly believe that what is good for Māori is actually good for everyone. And we see models and exemplars that are funded that show us, you know, what mātauranga Māori and our connection to te taio and looking at kaupapa holistically, how that can benefit the nation, not just Māori.” Chelsea Grootveld – JR McKenzie Trust

“No ‘provide us with quotes’, no ‘give us the report of where you've spent the money’, but purely outcome-based funding really so that they had the ability to self-determine where that money was needed to be spent. And the outcomes of that have been incredible. We've had organizations that have not just achieved greater things here in Taranaki, but they've also become influential on a national component as well because they've been able to develop their own strengths...” Maria Ramsay – Toi Foundation

“The biggest thing is about whakapapa...in the sense that their view is beyond our lifetimes. The reality is they're doing strategies that will go beyond our time tenure, on a Trust, for whether they are thinking about the benefits for the community now and for generations to come. So, for mana whenua, they are looking at their environment. Will this impact on our whakapapa for generations to come in a positive or negative way? Will this impact on our society in a positive or negative way? So, they have a responsibility to think beyond their time on the Trust.” Mata Cherrington – Community Trust South

• KI TE HOE: A capability building framework for funders supporting Māori aspirations - Ki te Hoe is a project commissioned by Philanthropy New Zealand (PNZ) in late 2020 to build the capacity and capability of funders to engage and support Māori aspirations in a mana-enhancing way.
• Foundation North share their journey towards becoming a te Tiriti led organisation
• The CSI capability support wheel which points to different free and paid support for organisations development.
• Engaging with te Tiriti and Matike Mai. Resources for embracing te ao Māori in our organisations and workplaces. Matike Mai is a report on constitutional transformation for Aotearoa New Zealand.
• Te Tiriti resources. A collection of resources that supports organisations and individuals to embed Te Tiriti o Waitangi principles into their daily actions and practices.

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