NWŌ Approach to Te Tiriti o Waitangi
The NWŌ approach is to promote, encourage and provide educational opportunities that work towards a society based on Te Tiriti o Waitangi, with a particular focus on the responsibility for building an honourable kāwanatanga.
Te Tiriti o Waitangi sets out the relationship between hapū and the Crown, providing a place for us all to belong and live in harmony as Tangata Whenua and Tangata Tiriti. Until very recently, Te Tiriti has in effect been ignored by the dominant system. At best, it has been only imperfectly taken into consideration and Māori have suffered mightily as a consequence. The implementation of Te Tiriti requires the development of the honourable kāwanatanga envisioned within it, which we believe is essential to collective and individual wellbeing.
NWŌ recognises the text in Te Reo as the Treaty.
No English language version was signed at Waitangi on 6 February 1840.
Any NWŌ references to the Treaty/ Te Tiriti are to that text in Te Reo.
The five aspects of Te Tiriti o Waitangi are:
Preamble: Peace with justice for all
Article 1: Practising honourable KĀWANATANGA
Article 2: Promoting TINO RANGATIRATANGA by Tangata Whenua
Article 3: Māori participation in Kāwanatanga in ways determined by Māori in relation to tikanga
Article 4: Everybody’s belief systems upheld
Our work supports the restoration of tino rangatiratanga by Tangata Whenua, and the establishment of honourable kāwanatanga by the Crown. 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 tātou – 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.”
In 2022, NWŌ organiser Katherine Peet presented two 45-minute sessions to Fire and Emergency NZ (FENZ). These sessions were recorded by FENZ and are shared here with their blessing, to give an overview of the NWŌ approach.
Our approach is also encapsulated in this essay by Sarah Hoult. In 2000, Sarah completed an examination of Project Waitangi Ōtautahi/Network Waitangi Ōtautahi as an example of Pākehā engagement with the Treaty. Her essay ‘A Study of Project/Network Waitangi’ outlines the origins aims and tactics of Project Waitangi and then beyond 1990, the origins, aims and tactics of Network Waitangi.
NWŌ is an educational Incorporated Society (number 1471115) with registered charitable status. Our Charities Services number is CC20973. Apart from relevant legislative and some funding requirements, NWŌ is independent of government, business interests and political parties. We accept koha in recognition of our work on the basis of what individuals and groups can afford, while taking into account the need to ensure that any amounts paid to us will not disadvantage mana whenua planning and will not put people off engaging in the workshops and other activities. We are part of a wider national network of groups and individuals.