Historic Treaty settlement for Tuhoe

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(stuff.co.nz) North Island tribe Tuhoe is celebrating a historic agreement with the Crown over the ownership of Te Urewera National Park.

Under a deal announced today, the Crown will no longer own the National Park, which will be vested in a new legal identify created by legislation.

An establishment board will initially comprise equal numbers of Crown and Tuhoe nominees. Over time Tuhoe representation is expected to grow.

Ngai Tuhoe will also receive redress valued at about $170 million, putting their settlement on a par with two of the country’s biggest iwi, Ngai Tahu and Tainui.

In a statement, Treaty Negotiations Minister Christopher Finalyson said the Crown and Ngai Tuhoe would work together to develop a deed of settlement by the end of the year, finalising the deal.

“Ngai Tuhoe’s history shows clearly why it is so important to settle genuine historic Treaty grievances,” Finalyson said.

“The conditions in Te Urewera, which contains some of our most deprived and isolated communities, show the very real and continued effects of the Crown’s Treaty breaches on the daily lives of Ngai Tuhoe people in the present.”

Huge areas of Tuhoe land were wrongly confiscated and more purchased unjustly, Finlayson said.

“Military campaigns against Tuhoe prisoners and civilians were described even at the time as extermination and the Crown employed a scorched earth policy in Tuhoe settlements.”

There has been a rocky history of negotiations with Tuhoe over their historic grievance. In 2010 the Government botched negotiations after earlier leading Tuhoe to believe they had a deal to take over ownership of the Urewera National Park.

Members of the tribe had their air travel and motels booked to celebrate the deal when Prime Minister John Key told Tuhoe negotiator Tamati Kruger handing over the park to Tuhoe was “a bridge too far”.

Kruger said yesterday he believed the tribe had ultimately won what it was seeking, which was control over the park. But Finlayson refused to concede that despite being pressed.

3 Comments

1. 

   Ratu

   September 12, 2012 at 11:19 am

   Krugers saying Tuhoe are taking control of Uruweras but Finlayson won’t concede and John Key is saying not so…. So then what is happening. Tuhoe Independance.

   Reply
2. 

   Ratu

   September 12, 2012 at 11:16 am

   I see this as a trick to get legitimate access to the Ureweras as a partner to Tuhoe. They say they will be giving over ownership to Tuhoe over a period of 40 years as being a partner. By the end of the 40 years I guarantee the Crown will have raped the land as a partner. Why do we believe the Government would all of a sudden have a change of heart from greed to fairness. Don’t dign anything. Tuhoe already own the land and don’t need to be babysitted by the Crown. Money is worthless, land is priceless. Don’t fall for this trick. None of the whanau in Te Waimana were consulted and did not agree to this.

   Reply
3. 

   Ralph WaiWai

   September 12, 2012 at 12:19 am

   This is an announcement my Tipuna waited their whole lives to be here for. I remember the horror I felt as a child when I learnt how the crown had treated our people during the scorched earth campaigns. The stories of traumatic loss are things I will never forget. During my adult my years I dreamed of the eventual return of Te Urewera and now it has happened, I only wish my elders were here to see it.

   Reply