Waitangi Day must be community and not politically driven - Shane Jones

Waitangi 2025: Waitangi Day must be community and not politically driven - Shane Jones

Our originating document, the Treaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south.

The intention was to establish a colony with the cession of sovereignty to the Crown, safeguard Māori rights and extend to them the rights and privileges of British subjects. A bilingual Treaty was translated by the missionaries. We ought not be surprised that the two versions have some differences.

It has become faddish to dismember the agreement into the English version as opposed to the Māori version, a political gimmick guaranteed to drive a wedge. The Treaty is indivisible, the underlying thread was best summed up by Governor Hobson, “he tahi tatou”. Together we are one people.

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