Matrix > Toolkit: Organisational Culture and Capability > DEI and Te Tiriti o Waitangi

DEI and Te Tiriti o Waitangi

This section was developed though talanoa between Māori and Pasifika employment and policy experts. It provides a user-friendly Te Tiriti o Waitangi explainer, and explores what Te Tiriti-led DEI might look like for both Māori and Pasifika. Click here for more general explainers of essential legal standards for employers.

Contents

  1. A foundational explainer of Te Tiriti o Waitangi >

  2. Te Tiriti o Waitangi and DEI for Māori >

  3. Employment equity for Pasifika in the context of Te Tiriti-led DEI >

  4. Glossary of Māori terms and their definition >

A foundational explainer of Te Tiriti o Waitangi

  • He Whakaputanga or The Declaration of Independence was the foundational expression of Māori tribal sovereignty. In 1835 He Whakaputanga established New Zealand/Nu Tireni as an internationally recognised sovereign nation, whose sovereignty lay in the hapū Māori of Te Whakaminenga – the Confederation of United Tribes.

  • Te Tiriti o Waitangi as an international treaty of settlement signed between two nations was only possible due to this expression and recognition of sovereignty. Te Tiriti reiterates and upholds Māori sovereignty as established by He Whakaputanga.

  • Te Tiriti o Waitangi (also known as ‘The Māori Text’ of the Treaty) and the Treaty of Waitangi (known as ‘The English Text’), are NOT the same document . Te Tiriti o Waitangi is recognised as the legitimate text of the agreement between Māori and the Crown, signed by 500+ renowned rangatira (chiefs) and/or representatives of hapū (collective of people) around the country, in comparison to the 39 rangatira that signed ‘the English Text’

  • International law prioritises versions of treaties in the native languages of the Indigenous people signing them, and also applies the principle of contra proferentum to such treaties, which requires favouring interpretations of the side that did not draft the contract if there is an ambiguity.

  • Te Tiriti o Waitangi has three key articles, with a fourth (the ‘oral article’) that was not formally added to the Te Tiriti document on February 6th 1840, but was read to the meeting of chiefs prior to any signing taking place. These are briefly summarised in the table below.

Te Tiriti o Waitangi and DEI for Māori

As implied by Te Tiriti, all citizens access their rights to workplace equity via the Crown - currently provided for by the Human Rights Act, Employment Relations Act and Bill of Rights, through the authority of the Crown established in Article 1. Māori also access these rights (e.g. to not be discriminated against at work) via the same Crown legal system that applies to all citizens.

However, for Māori in the workplace, the promotion of equity and elimination of discrimination is covered by both the Human Rights Act, and Article 3 of Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

Examples of how the Articles of Te Tiriti support DEI for Māori

Employment equity for Pasifika in the context of Te Tiriti-led DEI

Māori and Pasifika relationships are unique; while they predate Te Tiriti, they are also enabled by it.

Te Tiriti o Waitangi implies that Pasifika access their rights to workplace and economic equity via the Crown, currently provided for by the Human Rights Act and employment law. DEI initiatives for all disadvantaged groups are supported by the Kāwanatanga realm, through the authority granted to the Crown established in Article 1 of Te Tiriti o Waitangi (and for Māori as well, their guarantee of equality in Article 3).

However, Pasifika have a unique relationship with Māori outside of the Kāwanatanga realm. The late Moana Jackson commented on these relationships: “the tīpuna never forgot that, as much as whakapapa tied us to this land, it also tied us to the Pacific Ocean that we call Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa”. Collectively–and in a global setting–both of the ethnic groups recognise being ‘tāngata [nō Te] Moana-Nui-a-Kiwa’, peoples of the [wider] Pacific region. This highlights our pre-colonial affiliations, and acknowledges our ancestral connections, shared whakapapa, and historical trade relationships.

These connections existed long before the signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, making Pasifika the original tauiwi here in Aotearoa. Hirini Moko Mead has noted that “there is honour in being part of the peoples of Polynesia and knowing we have relatives spread across the great Pacific Ocean.”

Māori and Pasifika also share a history of colonisation, with the nation-state of New Zealand playing the role of ‘Little Britain of the Pacific’ throughout the settlement era. Our distinct kinship is further evidenced in the similarities held within our languages, our narratives, as well as our cultural customs and traditions–most of which are still practised and intergenerationally transmitted to this day.

Te Tiriti o Waitangi empowers Māori to maintain and uphold the prioritisation and recognition of these historical relationships with Pasifika, particularly through:

  • Article 2 which recognises tino rangatiratanga of Māori over their taonga – acknowledging whakapapa as a taonga.

  • Article 4 which guaranteed protection of Māori faiths, customs and religions therefore protects tikanga, including acknowledging and sustaining important genealogical and historical relationships.

How Tiriti-led approaches could include Pasifika in different types of DEI initiatives:

Can generic combined ‘Māori and Pasifika’ initiatives be Tiriti-led?

Initiatives that are broadly targeted at ‘Māori and Pasifika’ put disadvantaged groups together based on socioeconomic need and do not necessarily acknowledge Māori as tangata whenua. However, combined Māori and Pasifika-targeted initiatives can be more genuinely Tiriti-led by:

  • recognising that Māori were guaranteed equality with Crown subjects under Article 3 of Te Tiriti

  • ensuring Māori staff have the opportunity to lead as tangata whenua

  • providing explicit opportunities for Māori to exercise their Article 4 rights of practicing the custom of recognising and prioritising the links they have with their Pasifika relations.

This can re-indigenise the foundations of collective Māori and Pasifika advancement.

Where do Pasifika sit in relation to Māori-targeted initiatives?

  • Māori-targeted initiatives that are Tiriti-led should empower Māori staff with the autonomy to determine operational dynamics of these initiatives. This would include having the autonomy to determine whether to involve their Pasifika colleagues, contingent upon contextual considerations.

Māori voice in DEI leadership for the benefit of all, including Pasifika.

  • As noted above, Māori staff should be empowered by Te Tiriti in the workplace to contribute to organisation-wide DEI policies, to lead and determine the conditions of Māori-targeted DEI initiatives, as well as leading any DEI initiatives that benefit all marginalised groups.

Glossary of Māori terms and their definition

  • (noun) kinship group, clan, tribe, subtribe - section of a large kinship group and the primary political unit in traditional Māori society. It consisted of a number of whānau sharing descent from a common ancestor, usually being named after the ancestor, but sometimes from an important event in the group's history. A number of related hapū usually shared adjacent territories forming a looser tribal federation (iwi).

  • (loan) (noun) government, dominion, rule, authority, governorship, province.

  • (noun) equality, equal opportunity.

  • 1. (noun) likeness, custom, customary practice, habit, practice, resemblance, implication - the normal way of doing things. 2. (noun) ritual.

  • (noun) chief (male or female), chieftain, chieftainess, master, mistress, boss, supervisor, employer, landlord, owner, proprietor - qualities of a leader is a concern for the integrity and prosperity of the people, the land, the language and other cultural treasures (e.g. oratory and song poetry), and an aggressive and sustained response to outside forces that may threaten these.

  • (noun) local people, hosts, indigenous people - people born of the whenua (land), i.e. of the placenta and of the land where the people's ancestors have lived and where their placenta are buried.

  • 1. (noun) property, goods, possessions, effects, objects. 2. (noun) treasure, anything prized - applied to anything considered to be of value including socially or culturally valuable objects, resources, phenomenon, ideas and techniques.

  • (noun) person coming from afar.

  • (loan) (noun) Treaty of Waitangi.

  • (noun) correct procedure, custom, habit, lore, method, manner, rule, way, code, meaning, plan, practice, convention, protocol - the customary system of values and practices that have developed over time and are deeply embedded in the social context.

  • (noun) self-determination, sovereignty, autonomy, self-government, domination, rule, control, power.

  • (noun) genealogy, genealogical table, lineage, descent - reciting whakapapa was, and is, an important skill and reflected the importance of genealogies in Māori society in terms of leadership, land and fishing rights, kinship and status. It is central to all Māori institutions. There are different terms for the types of whakapapa and the different ways of reciting them.