Ngati Apa welcomes the end of treaty grievances and looks forward to a new beginning

South Island Iwi Ngati Apa ki te Ra will today sign an historic Treaty of Waitangi Settlement in Blenheim ending 172 years of grievance with the Crown.
The Ngati Apa ki te Ra To Deed of Settlement has been ratified by 99% of voters making it the most strongly supported Treaty of Waitangi settlement ever. It will be signed by Iwi representatives and the Hon Christopher Finlayson, Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations, at 11.00am this morning at Omaka Marae in Blenheim, on Friday 29 October 2010.

Ngati Apa ki te Ra To Trust Chair, Brendan Wilson said the Waitangi Tribunal described our claim as “unique” – it was right.

Mr Wilson said Ngati Apa had lived in Te Tau Ihu for many hundreds of years, across Nelson, Tasman and Golden Bay, down the West Coast and into the Marlborough Sounds.

“We have lived, hunted, fished and gathered the natural resources of the region, trod the tracks, built pa and kainga, and have passed on to our children the mauri of the whenua, the moana and the awa.

“We have buried our dead, composed waiata and pepeha about the area, and named the landscape,” he said.

“We were renowned for our knowledge of trails - our ancestor Kehu discovered what is now known as the Heaphy Track.

“However, by 1900 we were landless.”
Ngati Apa, unlike any other tribe of Te Tau Ihu, had all of its land interests taken by the Crown without any specific purchase negotiations and without the setting aside of reserves.”
In order to achieve settlement Ngati Apa formed an alliance called the Kurahaupo Trust with related iwi Ngati Kuia and Rangitane in 2005. A Letter of Agreement was signed with the Crown in February 2009. Ngati Kuia signed their Deed of Settlement last week and Rangitane o Wairau is expected to sign next month.

Mr Wilson acknowledged the many Ngati Apa tupuna (ancestors) who have carried the iwi claim, including Meihana Kereopa and Hoani Mahuika. He paid particular tribute to kuia Aunty Kath Hemi, the last surviving claimant from the Kurahaupo iwi, who has carried the claim for much of her life and is now in very poor health. He also acknowledged Chief Negotiator Peter Mason.
“Now that our grievances have been settled, Ngati Apa looks forward to the building a new relationship with the Crown.
One based this time on mutual respect and recognition,” Mr Wilson said.
We are also looking forward to working together with our whanaunga from other Te Tau Ihu Iwi as they too reach settlement.
“In particular we are excited at the prospect of building with Ngai Tahu and Ngati Waewae a strong, constructive and co-operative relationship that recognises our joint interests,” he said.
For more information please contact;
• Ngati Apa ki te Ra To Trust
Email: ngatiapa.wai@xtra.co.nz
Phone: 03 5789695

Background Information to Ngati Apa Deed of Settlement

The proposed settlement package is made up of three parts: Crown Apology, Cultural Redress; and Financial and Commercial Redress

Crown Apology

The Crown Apology includes an agreed Historical Account and Crown Acknowledgements. The Crown Acknowledgments to Ngati Apa are:

1 The Crown acknowledges that it has failed to deal with the longstanding grievances of Ngati Apa in an appropriate way and that recognition of these grievances is long overdue. The Crown further acknowledges that at relevant times it has failed to carry out an adequate inquiry into the nature and extent of Ngati Apa customary rights and interests. This meant that the Crown failed to recognise or protect Ngati Apa rights and interests to their full extent, which resulted in prejudice to the iwi. This was a breach of the Treaty of Waitangi and its principles.
17
2 The Crown acknowledges that it failed to adequately investigate the customary rights of Ngati Apa before granting land to the New Zealand Company. As a result the Crown did not consult, negotiate and compensate Ngati Apa for their rights in those lands. The Crown failed to actively protect the interests of Ngati Apa and this was a breach of the Treaty of Waitangi and its principles.

3 The Crown failed to adequately protect the interests of Ngati Apa when it arranged the completion of the New Zealand Company’s Nelson purchase and did not establish a process in a timely manner that ensured Ngati Apa received consideration, including a share in the tenths, for this purchase. This was a breach of the Treaty of Waitangi and its principles.

4 The Crown acknowledges that its failure to adequately investigate the rights of Ngati Apa at the time of the Spain Commission and protect the interests of Ngati Apa when completing the Company’s Nelson purchase had an ongoing effect on Ngati Apa. From this point, the ability of Ngati Apa to represent and protect their interests, including at pivotal Native Land Court cases in 1883 and 1892, and to maintain their connections to the whenua, was significantly impacted. The Crown acknowledges that this negative impact has continued down to the present day.

5 The Crown acknowledges that it failed to investigate and recognise Ngati Apa customary rights or deal with the iwi when it embarked on a series of purchases in Te Tau Ihu between 1847 and 1856. Ngati Apa were afforded minimal recognition in the 1860 Arahura purchase. The Crown acknowledges that:

5.1 Ngati Apa received no payment for the alienation of their land in Crown purchases
carried out between 1847-1856;
5.2 it did not acquire the Ngati Apa interests in land it later treated as purchased;
5.3 No reserves were set aside for Ngati Apa from the Crown’s Waipounamu purchase; and
5.4 The occupation reserves set aside for Ngati Apa in connection with the Crown’s Arahura
purchase were insufficient for the present and future needs of Ngati Apa and that over
time these reserves were subject to further alienation.

The Crown acknowledges that these failures were in breach of the Treaty of Waitangi and its principles.

6 The Crown acknowledges that in purchasing almost the entire Te Tau Ihu region, Ngati Apa were the only iwi in Te Tau Ihu the Crown did not sign a purchase deed with or provide with reserves.
18
7 The Crown acknowledges that Ngati Apa received little economic return from the
endowment reserves granted to them on the West Coast.

8 The Crown acknowledges that it failed to adequately consult with the Ngati Apa owners of West Coast reserves between Kahurangi Point and Westport about the future management of those lands. This included failing to present the Westport town section owners with the full range of options recommended by the 1973 Commission of Inquiry into Maori Reserved lands. All Ngati Apa’s remaining West Coast reserves were subsequently vested in the Greymouth-based Mawhera Incorporation. Ngati Apa owners became shareholders in the Incorporation, but lost control of their lands. This gave rise to a grievance which is still keenly felt by Ngati Apa today.

9 The Crown acknowledges that members of Ngati Apa were never issued title to land
allocated to them at Whakapoai under the ‘landless natives’ scheme. The Crown’s failure to effectively implement the scheme meant that it did nothing to alleviate the landless position of Ngati Apa in Te Tau Ihu. This failure was a breach of the Treaty of Waitangi and its principles.

10 The Crown acknowledges that its actions have impacted on the ability of Ngati Apa to access many of their traditional resources, including the rivers, lakes, forests and wetlands. The Crown also acknowledges that Ngati Apa have lost control of many of their significant sites, including wahi tapu, and that this has had an ongoing impact on their physical and spiritual relationship with the land.

11 The Crown acknowledges that by 1900 Ngati Apa were a landless iwi. The Crown failed to ensure that Ngati Apa were left with sufficient land for their present and future needs and this failure was a breach of the Treaty of Waitangi and its principles.

Cultural Redress

The Cultural Redress in the settlement includes the vesting in fee simple of 4 sites of cultural and spiritual significance, a unique claim payment valued at $3 million, and other cultural redress Instruments including the transfer of gift back of

Financial and Commercial Redress

The financial redress involves a cash settlement of $23.6 million as well as the $3million payment for the unique Ngati Apa claim.

The commercial redress comprises:

• a right of deferred selection over a number of Crown owned properties for a period of 3 years from Settlement Date;

• a right of first refusal for 169 years over a number of Housing New Zealand Corporation properties and for 100 years over core Crown properties; and

• cash gifted for the purchase of commercial properties.

Ngāti Apa Deed of Settlement signing ceremony

ORDER OF EVENTS
Friday, 29 October 2010 at 10.30 am
Omaka Marae
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
10.45 am

11.00 am

11.30am

11.45am

Iwi and guests assemble at Omaka Marae

Pōwhiri
Karanga
Ngāti Apa whaikorero (Kiley Nepia)
Whaikorero for the Crown (John Clarke)

Hongi/harirū

Speeches
Speech by the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations
Speech by Brendan Wilson, Chairperson Ngāti Apa ki te Ra To
12.30pm

1.00pm Deed of settlement signing
Authorised signatories from the Crown and Ngāti Apa sign three copies of the deed of settlement
Witnesses sign (all those present who wish to sign the deed)

Hākari

Close

© Scoop Media