Message from Te Mana Chairman: 

On behalf of Te Mana o Ngāti Rangitihi Trust, I write to you with some exciting news: We have officially completed our Treaty settlement negotiations.

This is a significant milestone in our journey to comprehensively settling all historical Treaty of Waitangi claims across our rohe.

I thank our dedicated team of negotiators and Trustees who have pushed to get a comprehensive settlement negotiated for our people. I thank all our members, Ngāti Rangitihi, for your support over the years which has enabled us to get to this point. I also acknowledge the agreements we have made with our neighbouring iwi. These agreements will form the basis of sound and positive relationships post our Settlement.

This settlement allows us to achieve a number of aspirations for our iwi. It will enable the return of lands culturally and spiritually significant to us, and it will acknowledge our important role as kaitiaki of our whenua and awa.

The Deed of Settlement includes an Historic Account, Crown Acknowledgements and a Crown Apology. It sets out the terms of Cultural Redress (including the return of culturally significant lands, place name changes, relationship agreements with Government agencies and an entity to restore and protect our awa), and Financial and Commercial Redress (an additional $4 million to the $7.3 million received in the CNI Settlement), .

We will provide more detail in the coming week on the exact contents of the Deed of Settlement. We will also go through these at our Hui-Ā-Iwi this Sunday, 1pm at Rangitihi Marae. The hui will be livestreamed to Facebook, for those who can’t be there in person, including our overseas whānau.

What happens now?

  1. Initialling of our Deed of Settlement (iDOS)

Towards the later part of next week, the Deed will be initialled by Te Mana Trustees and the Crown. This will take place in Parliament and we will be in a position to provide more details on this next week.

  1. Preparing for voting on our Deed of Settlement (Ratification)

Once the Deed has been initialled, we can proceed to the next stage of our Settlement journey – ratification of our Deed of Settlement. This is where all registered members of Te Mana, aged 18 years and over, can vote on our initialled Deed of Settlement. It is you, our registered members, who get to have the final say.

Voting is expected to take place towards the end of July, over four weeks. You will be able to vote by post, online, and by Ballot Box at the Information hui which will be held across Aotearoa in August. There, you’ll be able to ask all the pātai you have.

You will be asked to vote on the following resolution:

I, as an Adult Registered Member of Ngāti Rangitihi agree to accept the Initialled Deed of Settlement as settlement of all historical Treaty of Waitangi claims between the Crown and Ngāti Rangitihi, and agree to the Trustees of Te Mana o Ngāti Rangitihi Trust signing the Deed of Settlement on behalf of Ngāti Rangitihi.

Over the coming month, you will receive a voting pack which will contain your voting papers and information on the contents of our Deed of Settlement so you can be fully informed before you vote. Whānau it is your chance to have your say, by voting.

  1. Signing of our Deed of Settlement 

All going well, if the Deed of Settlement is approved by registered voting members of Te Mana, we may be able to sign our Deed before the year is over. This is a moment we will have all been waiting a long time for.

What can you do in the meantime?

While we get ready for voting on our Deed of Settlement, it’s important that you check you are registered, and your contact details are up to date.

If you are 18 years and over, have whakapapa to Ngāti Rangitihi, you will be able to vote! Register here. To check your details are up to date, contact Te Mana at info@ngatirangitihi.iwi.nz / 0800 AKATEA or 0800 252 832, or login to YourIwi.com and update them yourself here.

Whānau, we strongly recommend, that when the time comes, you vote ‘YES’. Voting ‘YES’ will allow our settlement to move forward so that we can receive our settlement redress and benefit generations of Ngāti Rangitihi to come. It doesn’t make our mamae go away — but it is a way forward for our people.

This settlement is for you, your whānau, and for your mokopuna and their mokopuna to come.