The Unsettledness of Treaty Settlements: Ngāti Whātua o Kaipara - a case study

In very broad terms, Treaty of Waitangi claims in Aotearoa New Zealand are pursued by Māori people with great hope over long periods of time and under duress; hope that settlement with the Crown will bring justice to long-held grievances and acknowledgement of the accumulated damage and hurt; hope for the beginning of a transformation and change. Cultural and financial redress are expected to provide opportunities for revitalisation and reconstruction of a kin-based community and way of life that is distinctly and proudly of their own heritage. This is often expressed in terms of tino rangatiratanga (paramount authority), mana motuhake (autonomy), mana whenua (customary authority over land), and simply, mana (customary authority) – key pillars upholding practices that sustain confidence in an identity handed down from their tūpuna (ancestors) and a will to continue living that identity.

This thesis is a case study of Ngāti Whātua o Kaipara, a relatively small settling group, located in south Kaipara (a rural area just north of Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city), who lodged a treaty claim in 1992 and received a settlement in 2013. It explores the realities of working the settlement to drive social, cultural, economic, and environmental initiatives in accordance with their own values and design, to support and uplift whānau (extended family) well-being, and restore faith in their ability to manage and represent their affairs via the organisation created to manage the settlement, the post settlement governance entity.

My starting point, based on my own experience, is that there is an inherent contradiction in treaty settlements and that the unintended consequence of them is that there is more ‘unsettledness’ post settlement. My thesis asks in which ways do treaty settlements create unsettledness, what form does unsettledness take, and what progress is being made despite any unsettledness?

While a certain optimism permeates treaty settlements because of the presumed synergy between self-reliance and rangatiratanga (self-determination), my findings are that a treaty settlement is also another form of colonisation. It entrenches norms and behaviours that comply with the institutional framework of the Crown yet does not offer the comparable power and resources to the settling group to effect major change to those legislative and bureaucratic institutions. Though a settlement provides a framework in principle for reparation, many aspects depend on further negotiation with the Crown to finalise them, which has proven difficult to achieve. Despite the gesture of reconciliation in a treaty settlement and the rhetoric of removing the grievances and strengthening the relationship between the settling group and the Crown, there is no shared vision of the future. Consequently, the logistics of post settlement are plagued with complexities and distractions, causing further division and disappointment within the settling group in their struggle to meet their own expectations.

At the same time, a settlement provides an agreed set of criteria for a settling group to hold the Crown to account. A settlement holds opportunities for empowerment and transformation in that it provides a settling group with more assets, resources and mechanisms of self-governance than it had before. It acknowledges the historical injustices suffered and includes an apology from the Crown that allows for an improved relationship and further dialogue with the Crown. My conclusion is that despite the unintended consequences and unsettledness, or perhaps because of them, the settling group will find ways of reimagining themselves and their capabilities that could never have been foreseen until after settlement. Contestation and debate can bring unpredictable turning points critical to determining what is important to the settling group and propel creativity and innovation. In this case, there is a strong will to continue to evolve, to fulfil the hopes of those who lodged the treaty claim to provide a more settled future for generations of Ngāti Whātua o Kaipara to come.