2. Te Tiriti and Indigenous rights Te Tiriti o Waitangi Te Tiriti is Aotearoa New Zealand’s founding and first rights-based document between the British Crown and Rangatira Māori.41 Te Tiriti reaffirms the pre-existing rights and rangatiratanga of Tangata Whenua and the status of Tikanga Māori as supreme law in Aotearoa.42 Te Tiriti establishes a continual and ongoing relationship between Tangata Whenua and the Crown. It affirms the status of whānau, hapū and iwi as tangata whenua and recognises their pre-existing rangatiratanga. It envisages a sharing of power and authority and a partnership of equals. Te Tiriti requires government to work in partnership, and share decision-making, with its Tiriti partners, and to respect and support the rangatiratanga authority of tangata whenua. While Te Tiriti establishes this relationship, the two parties have distinct identities. Tiriti partnership must permit a sharing of power that does not require one party to be subsumed by the other. A Tiriti-based approach assists in determining what framework should be used to maintain the ongoing relationship between Māori and Crown.43 Articles 1 and 2 of Te Tiriti provide for coexisting systems of governance: the guaranteed continuation of iwi and hapū rangatiratanga and introduction of Crown kāwanatanga as a new and limited form of authority. Article 3 promises Māori equal enjoyment of citizenship rights, placing obligations on the Crown to ensure equity for Māori alongside other New Zealanders. But the Crown’s commitment to Māori under Te Tiriti goes much further than a promise of equitable treatment. It requires putting right the wrongs committed and damage inflicted, honouring the pre-existing Te Tiriti and indigenous human rights of tangata whenua, and reconciliation. Tāngata whaikaha Māori have rights guaranteed under Te Tiriti. However, the different views of Māori and the Crown about the meaning of Te Tiriti/the Treaty make the realisation of these rights difficult. While the Treaty principles are widely used by government and its agencies it is important to recognise that they are principles generated by the Crown. This report will primarily refer to the preamble and articles of Te Tiriti, summarised below, rather than Treaty principles. Preamble – He Kupu Whakatahi The preamble outlines the purpose and intent of Te Tiriti to maintain and strengthen relationships between tangata whenua and the Crown. It sets the tone of the articles that follow and provides an understanding of the aims of the parties. The preamble “envisages relationships of care and protection as well as autonomy and self-determination for hapū and limited authority for the Crown, which are directly relevant and important to guiding relations between Māori and the Crown now”.44 Defining and maintaining the “right relationship” is critical.45 Article 1 – Kāwanatanga Article 1 of Te Tiriti provided the Crown with kāwanatanga (governorship) over British settlers. Although subsequently, the English version of Article 1, purporting to cede ‘all the rights and powers of sovereignty’ has been the basis of government assertion of sovereignty, the Waitangi Tribunal has affirmed that this was not the intention of Māori signatories. The rangatira consented to the treaty on the basis that they and the Governor were to be equals, though they were to have different roles and different spheres of influence. The detail of how this relationship would work in practice, especially where the Māori and European populations intermingled, remained to be negotiated over time on a case-by-case basis.46 Whakamanahia Te Tiriti, Whakahaumarutia te Tangata - Honour the Treaty, Protect the person 9