The Ngati Awa and the New Zealand government have recently signed a Deed of Settlement worth $42.39 million, after six years of negotiation. The settlement aims to correct Crown breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi, especially land confiscations that left the Ngati Awa virtually landless.
The Ngati Awa is an iwi, which can roughly be described as a Maori “tribe”. In Maori tradition, each iwi is subdivided by family-based groups called hapu, which are respectively divided into individual families, or wanau. The iwi of Ngati Awa has about 13,000 members and 22 hapu whose traditional territory lies in the Eastern Bay of Plenty.
The settlement is the result of six years of negotiations, making the Ngati Awa the fourth such group to reach this stage in negotiations with the New Zealand government. Meanwhile, two other groups are currently working on draft Deeds of Settlement expected to be completed by the end of the year.
According to Treaty Negotiations Minister Margaret Wilson, the Settlement “includes an agreed historical account and formal Crown apology, cultural redress including the transfer of seven sites of significance to Ngati Awa, and a combination of cash and Crown-owned land up to the value of $42.39 million." No privately owned land was included in the Settlement.
The Settlement goes beyond cash and land payments to address cultural factors such as changing place names and the creation of Deeds of Recognition for four Crown-owned areas, which would require the Crown to consult Ngati Awa on the management of these Crown-owned sites. In addition, Ngati Awa will be appointed as an Advisory Committee to the Minister of Conservation and the Minister of Fisheries, and camping licenses will give Ngati Awa members access to traditional food gathering areas for non-commercial fishing and food gathering for up to 210 days a year.
The Deed of Settlement must now be ratified by the members of Ngati Awa, after which overlapping claim issues will be addressed, and a final binding Deed will be signed.
