Te Tiriti o Waitangi workshops were held in August

Sep 6

This last month has been full of fertile learning for the Waiheke Marine Project team and extended Waiheke community.

On July 27 & 28 and then again on August 27, Waiheke Marine Project (WMP), in collaboration with Waiheke Adult Learning (WAL), invited Marisa Maclachlan, Mikesh Patel and Erin Johnson from Tangata Tiriti – Treaty People to facilitate two sessions of their Te Tiriti o Waitangi workshop to our community.

The July session was delivered online, while the August session was fortunate enough to be in-person to a full room in Oneroa. Together, we explored the historical context and ongoing struggles that we face in Aotearoa New Zealand on the path to decolonising our hearts, minds and practices as tauiwi (settled peoples). What was particularly enlightening was the particular emphasis upon the originally agreed upon Declaration of Independence (He Whakaputanga) of 1835 and how this evolved into the Treaty of Waitangi (Te Tiriti o Waitangi) in 1840.

It became clear that what initially started as a peaceful agreement between sovereign hapū and new European settlers soon morphed into a history of ongoing dispossession and colonial brutality – many consequences of which continue to be perpetuated and lived out in contemporary times.

In these workshops, we were able to sit in the discomfort of our nation’s history as we reckoned with the lived realities of many tangata whenua and then collectively vision and enact pathways toward more respectful, responsible and reciprocal relations in Aotearoa that honour the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi that hapū rangatira and indeed, even the British governor at the time, William Hobson, signed back in 1840.

Alice McSherry
Steering Group member