Tēnā koutou ngā uri o Ngāti Rangitihi.
The year is flying by and it is proving to be a busy one for Ngāti Rangitihi.
A key focus of our work for 2019 continues to be on our Treaty of Waitangi Settlement. There is significant mahi taking place by Te Mana Trustees and Negotiators to ensure we can bring you a Deed of Settlement to vote on by the first quarter of 2020.
In this newsletter, we will be focusing on Treaty matters as we are at a critical stage in our settlement journey.
A key item for this year will be ratifying our Post Settlement Governance Entity (PSGE). This is an important requirement as part of our settlement journey. As part of the settlement process set out by the Crown, all iwi must have a PSGE that is fit for purpose to receive the Ngāti Rangitihi Settlement Redress.
While the existing Te Mana o Ngāti Rangitihi Trust is already set up as a Post Settlement Governance Entity (PSGE), it was set up specifically in 2009 to receive Ngāti Rangitihi’s Central North Island (CNI) redress. Since then, the Crown has developed a new template trust deed for individual iwi settlements, which we must follow to be able to receive the Ngāti Rangitihi settlement redress.
Ratifying our PSGE this year will give us the option of appointing the current Te Mana Trustees as the Initial Trustees of the new Te Mana PSGE to oversee the final stages of settlement. Alternatively, elections could be held later this year (under the existing Te Mana Trust Deed). This may mean we would have some Trustees at the table who may not be familiar with the settlement process.
Whether we have elections in October will be up to registered adult beneficiaries to decide as part of the upcoming ratification process. However, we believe it is important to have continuity at the Trustee table to ensure we can bring you a Settlement to vote on in the next 12 months which is why we encourage you to support our suggestion to appoint, for a limited time, the current Te Mana Trustees as the Initial Trustees of the new Te Mana PSGE.
We are at a crucial part of our settlement journey and we are so close to reaching a draft Deed of Settlement to bring you to vote on, so let’s keep moving forward.
More information on this upcoming ratification can be found on pages 2 and 3 of this newsletter, and on our website. We will also be emailing and posting to you information, including details on how to vote, in the coming month.
If you haven’t already, I encourage you to follow our website for regular updates from the Trust, as well as our Facebook page. Please also encourage whānau to register with the Trust if they are not already registered.
Mauri ora!
Leith Comer
Chairman