Understanding the Treaty as a
framework for the future for all of us
Network Waitangi Ōtautahi (NWŌ) is a incorporated society whose members are committed to Te Tiriti o Waitangi as the framework for a multicultural and strongly sustainable future.
NWŌ offers learning opportunities about Te Tiriti o Waitangi and the role it plays in this country. We do this via support and mentoring, as well as more formal learning opportunities for institutions, organisations and groups, along with open access digital resources.
Ka pikihia e
Te Aroha o Rakinui
Ki ruka i te Ao Marama
Te Whenua me te Iwi
Kia hono kotahi ai
tatou ki a tatou
Ka Iwi
Ka Waka
Kia kotahi ai te hoe
NWŌ supports the development of a Treaty-based, multicultural and strongly sustainable future. Our primary aim is to promote, encourage and provide educational opportunities to work towards a society based on Te Tiriti o Waitangi. We do this alongside a wider network of groups and individuals, united by our particular focus on the responsibility for building an honourable kāwanatanga.
NWŌ focuses on education, recognising that the intent and actual content of Te Tiriti o Waitangi are not well known or well understood. We seek to enhance understanding of the indigenous status of Tangata Whenua (those who whakapapa to a Māori ancestor) and the role of everyone else as Tangata Tiriti.
The ongoing settlement of Treaty claims around the country opens the door to a new era in Māori-Crown relationships. Our contribution is to promote a deeper and more profound understanding of Te Tiriti o Waitangi for everyone.
To date, Te Tiriti o Waitangi has been widely viewed as relating only to Māori, but this is beginning to change and in a Treaty-based future it will be seen as relevant to everyone, and the foundation of all political relationships.
In a speech in 2006, Dr Pita Sharples referred to the words spoken by Captain William Hobson after he signed Te Tiriti on behalf of the British Crown: He iwi kotahi tatou – now we are one people. Dr Sharples stated: “As Nelson Mandela had said, it is difficult to negotiate with those who do not share the same frame of reference. If we are able to recognise and come to have a shared view of this political document called the Treaty of Waitangi, as our shared frame of reference, then and only then, can we perhaps say he iwi kotahi tātou.”
We cover what was happening both globally and locally in the period leading up to the signing of te Tiriti, and on the importance of all its five aspects – the Preamble and the four Articles.