Newsletter
Tuhoe, Te Urewera & Treaty Settlements: An Update
In a flurry of recent activity, the Crown has released a Waitangi Tribunal preliminary report damning historic ill treatment of Te Urewera’s Tuhoe people and convened a Hui ostensibly for the purpose of expediting the treaty settlement process.
Subsequently, a lengthy, in-depth NZ Herald story asks why the Tuhoe people, known as the “Children of the Mist,’’ have a reputation as fiercely angry. In that story, Echoes of an Angry Tribe: Crown vs. Tuhoe, Kaumatua Tamati Kruger explains that those with short memories forget the sweeping 19th century land confiscations and military actions—the scorched earth policies--that were seared into the Tuhoe consciousness and transmitted from generation to generation.
PM John Key admitted to the 22nd April 2009 Hui that Crown actions have ‘’caused great harm to Maori.” He is silent on the question of current Crown persecution of Tuhoe people and others who protest State policies.
On releasing the preliminary report, the Waitangi Tribunal indicated “it is being released in parts at the request of the Crown and claimants, to assist them in settlement negotiations.”
The Waitangi Tribunal says several injustices against the Urewera people from 1865 to 1872 need to be addressed by the Crown, even though the tribes did not sign the Treaty. Apr 09, 2009 NZPA Media Release
MP Te Ururoa Flavell: "The Tribunal's report tells of unlawful confiscation, the killing of innocent people, unnecessary destruction of food crops causing more deaths by starvation, and breaking of peace agreements by the Crown against the Tuhoe people in the mid to late 1800's. Report on Te Urewera Claims Should Be Widely Read 09 April 2009, Press Release: The Maori Party
Tamati Kruger reckons you don't have to go far in the Eastern Bay of Plenty to find locals who think Tuhoe living in places like Ruatoki and Waimana are "crazy people". They think this, the Kaumatua believes, because Tuhoe always seem so angry. Echoes of an angry tribe: Crown v Tuhoe NZ Herald Apr 18, 2009
Breaches of the Treaty by actions of the Crown have caused great harm to Maori. It is time those breaches were dealt with and the wounds they have caused were healed. Speech by John Key - Hui to Progress Treaty Settlements 22 April 2009, Press Release: New Zealand Government
- Submitted on 28/04/2009 - 10:48