What is the Waitangi Tribunal
Ngāpuhi Waitangi Tribunal Claim
Te Paparahi o te Raki inquiry
In 2010 the Waitangi Tribunal began hearing Ngāpuhi's claim that sovereignty was not given up in their signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. The Waitangi Tribunal, in Te Paparahi o te Raki inquiry (Wai 1040) is in the process of considering the Māori and Crown understandings of He Whakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga/The Declaration of Independence 1835 and Te Tiriti o Waitangi/the Treaty of Waitangi 1840.
Māori signatories had no intention of transferring sovereignty, and at the time the British Crown and James Busby did not wish to acquire it. Developments and justifications leading to the present state were later developments. It is estimated that the hearings will last 6 years, and will serve a serious precedent for all Maori tribal groups if the Tribunal recognises Ngāpuhi sovereignty. A common Ngāpuhi interpretation of the Declaration of the United Tribes of New Zealand is that the British government was simply recognising Maori independence and putting the world on check, merely re-asserting sovereignty that had existed from "time immemorial".
The first stage of the report was released in November 2014, and found that Māori chiefs never agreed to give up their sovereignty when they signed the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840. Tribunal manager Julie Tangaere said at the report's release to the Ngapuhi claimants:
"Your tupuna [ancestors] did not give away their mana at Waitangi, at Waimate, at Mangungu. They did not cede their sovereignty. This is the truth you have been waiting a long time to hear."
Māori signatories had no intention of transferring sovereignty, and at the time the British Crown and James Busby did not wish to acquire it. Developments and justifications leading to the present state were later developments. It is estimated that the hearings will last 6 years, and will serve a serious precedent for all Maori tribal groups if the Tribunal recognises Ngāpuhi sovereignty. A common Ngāpuhi interpretation of the Declaration of the United Tribes of New Zealand is that the British government was simply recognising Maori independence and putting the world on check, merely re-asserting sovereignty that had existed from "time immemorial".
The first stage of the report was released in November 2014, and found that Māori chiefs never agreed to give up their sovereignty when they signed the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840. Tribunal manager Julie Tangaere said at the report's release to the Ngapuhi claimants:
"Your tupuna [ancestors] did not give away their mana at Waitangi, at Waimate, at Mangungu. They did not cede their sovereignty. This is the truth you have been waiting a long time to hear."
