This is because without access to NZSL
b wise policy – based on the Crown’s
many deaf people have limited or no access
right to govern under article 1 of
to New Zealand’s two spoken “official
the Treaty and reflecting the status
languages”, English and te reo Māori.
of te reo as a taonga of utmost
importance
1.6.2 The Treaty of Waitangi, MLA
and Waitangi Tribunal Claims
c appropriate resources to achieve
policy goals – particularly given
The Waitangi Tribunal questioned “whether
the protection guaranteed to te reo
the principles and broad objectives of the
under article 2 of the Treaty
Treaty can ever be achieved if there is not a
recognised place for the language of one of
d a Māori-speaking government – to
the partners to the Treaty”.22 The centrality
give effect to the Tribunal’s 1986
of these Treaty obligations to the MLA is
recommendations that Māori
reflected upfront, in its preamble.
speakers should be able to engage
23
with all agencies of the State in te
Twenty five years later, the Waitangi
reo as of right.26
Tribunal’s 2011 report examined claims
about New Zealand law and policy that
The Wai 262 report also defined duties
affects Māori culture and identity. The
for Māori around speaking their language
Tribunal re-examined the position of te
(kōrero Māori) and their role in such
reo Māori. It reflected on Māori language
a partnership approach. The Tribunal
initiatives and Treaty of Waitangi litigation
concluded there has been a failure of
and policy development in the intervening
partnership as Māori lack meaningful input
decades.
into decisions about their own language.
Policy developments have also come
The Tribunal’s report Ko Aotearoa t‘nei,
too late and have been under-resourced.
also known as claim Wai 262, identifies
As well, the Government has not met
four primary duties on the Crown and two
its obligations to become more Māori-
on Māori in respect to te reo.24 The Crown’s
speaking.27
duties are:
The Commission considers all of these
a partnership – this Treaty principle
duties relevant to the maintenance and
requires each party to act
promotion of NZSL and its status as an
reasonably and with utmost good
official language. In part, this reflects some
faith to the other25
common underlying human rights principles
contained in the Disability Convention
24