24 Maranga Mai! Aotearoa. It was an “innovative declaration of Indigenous power” that formally asserted the independence of Aotearoa as a “…Māori state” where “power resided fully with Māori and … foreigners would not be allowed to make laws” (Archives New Zealand, 2021). He Whakaputanga is the foundational constitutional document articulating collective iwi and hapū identity grounded upon independence (Independent Working Group on Constitutional Transformation, 2018, p. 44). Te Tiriti o Waitangi (1840) There are two texts of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, one in te reo Māori (Te Tiriti) and the Treaty of Waitangi (The Treaty) in English. Despite many efforts to compare them, the texts do not readily equate in translation. However, it is incontrovertible that Te Tiriti is the principal text. The history is clear that the understanding of the rangatira who signed Te Tiriti in 1840 was based on the discussions framed on the text in te reo Māori (Waitangi Tribunal, 2014, pp. 517-520, 521-525). Equally clear is that the Europeans who drafted the texts and led pre-signing discussions and assurances with rangatira “concealed the full British intentions” as outlined in the English version (Waitangi Tribunal, 2014, p. 526). Moreover, it is the text in te reo Māori which more than 500 rangatira signed in hui held in 1840, which holds weight for tangata whenua, compared to the 39 rangatira who signed the English treaty. The Waitangi Tribunal Report, in its Te Paparahi o Raki 2014 report, affirmed that the rangatira that signed Te Tiriti in 1840 did not cede their sovereignty to Britain. That is, rangatira and their hapū (and iwi) did not cede their authority to make and enforce law over their people or their territories.ii Te Tiriti is not a treaty of cession. International law With regard to bilingual treaties, McNair in The Law of Treaties states that neither text is superior to the other. Lord McNair was a British jurist and judge of the International Court of Justice and later the first president of the European Court of Human Rights. The two texts should help one another so that it is permissible to interpret one text by reference to the other. While this approach may help in interpreting the Treaty (English version) and reconciling differences between the two texts, we must also have regard to other principles (Lord McNair, 1986). Accepting Te Tiriti as the principal text is congruent with the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (1969) Article 32, which considers the consideration of “the preparatory work of the treaty and the circumstances of its conclusion [signing]” when issues of ambiguity arise in the terms of a treaty.iii This is also consistent with the wider body of international customary law.iv In that regard, we follow the findings of the Waitangi Tribunal in the Waitara-Motunui Report (1983) and the Manukau Report (1985). Both reports reference the United States Supreme Court that treaties with Indigenous peoples should be “construed in the sense which they would naturally be understood by the Indians” (Jones v Meehan (1899) 175 US 1). This is relevant when considering the “predominant role the Māori text played in securing the signatures of the various chiefs” (Waitangi Tribunal, 1985, p. 65).v Both reports also accepted the principle of contra proferentem where, in the case of an ambiguity in the terms of an agreement between parties, specifically in the circumstance of unequal bargaining, the interpretation of the agreement should be read against the party who provided the wording. Racism and truth The elimination of racism is a strategic priority for Te Kāhui Tika Tangata | the Human Rights Commission. The first principle in eliminating racism is truth. Truth requires evidence and the testimony of those subject to racism. Maranga Mai! focuses on the history of racism and how racism is experienced by Māori. A substantial and increasing body of historical evidence demonstrates that the impacts of colonisation, white supremacy and racism on Māori are multi-dimensional, cumulative, inter-generational and fundamental to the continuing displacement and marginalisation of Māori and their rights under Te Tiriti. The evidence confirms that the cascading and