Waikaremoana hapū witnessed Parliament pass the third
reading of the Ngāti Ruapani mai Waikaremoana Claims
Settlement Bill in Wellington today.
The Bill will
give legal effect to the Deed of Settlement signed on the
shores of Waikaremoana in February, and records in statute
the Crown’s acknowledgments of, and apology for, its
historical breaches against Waikaremoana hapū, and
providing redress
Ngāti Ruapani mai Waikaremoana
Trust Chair Kara Puketapu-Dentice said the law records what
Waikaremoana hapū have always known.
“Our tūpuna
came to Wellington with petitions. They came with claims.
They went home without an answer. Today they have
one.”
“This law does not make us. It affirms what
has always been true. Te Urewera remains. Waikaremoana
remains. The hapū who call that place home
remain.”
“We receive the Crown’s acknowledgment
with dignity. But we stand here because our tūpuna never
relinquished who they were, and because we have not
relinquished each other.”
The Act gives effect to
the Crown’s acknowledgment and apology, and redress, for
its breaches against Waikaremoana hapū since1866, including
armed attacks on kāinga at Te Kōpani, scorched earth
tactics that displaced and starved whānau, and the coerced
acquisition of some 178,000 acres under threat of
confiscation. By 1895 the hapū were virtually
landless.
Redress under the settlement includes
financial and commercial redress of $24 million, an
undivided half share of Patunamu Forestry, four commercial
and two cultural redress properties, and the return of
culturally significant sites including Turi-o-Kahu at
Onepoto. Around 12,000 hectares of Crown land will be vested
in Te Urewera, the legal identity established under Te
Urewera Act 2014.
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Mr Puketapu-Dentice said the return
of land into Te Urewera was a key part of the
settlement.
“Waikaremoana has outlived every
generation that stood beside it. It will outlive us. We do
not shape it. It shapes us. Vesting this land in Te Urewera
puts it back where it belongs, with the land itself and in
the care of the hapū who are of it.”
“The
settlement is a foundation, not a finish. Our work now is to
bring our people home to Waikaremoana, to restore our
presence at Onepoto and around the lake, and to strengthen
our marae. That is a generational task, and we have
started.”
The Act settles the historical Treaty
claims of the hapū of Waikaremoana: Ngāti Ruapani, Ngāti
Hinekura, Whānau Pani and Ngāi Tarapāroa. It also
completes the Crown’s settlement negotiations across Te
Urewera.The settlement will take effect once the Act
receives Royal
assent.
