Ki te whaiao, ki te ao Mārama Recognition of Te Tiriti o Waitangi Tangata Whenua participants want Te Tiriti o Waitangi to be recognised and honoured by government and all New Zealanders, to help eliminate racism and benefit everyone. For this to happen, many participants spoke about an urgent need for constitutional reform that would recognise the importance of tino rangatiratanga and kāwanatanga within Aotearoa. This would mean Tangata Whenua would be able to practice and uphold mana motuhake and tino rangatiratanga in the shared governance of Aotearoa. Participants also expressed that racism should be taken more seriously by government which would help rectify the harm colonial systems and practices continue to cause. One described this as: One participant told us that what was needed was: “an Aotearoa where all citizens understand, acknowledge and uphold Te Tiriti. An Aotearoa where constitutional reform assumes all the provisions [and] principles of Te Tiriti.” Another participant commented: ‘the first place to start to make Aotearoa NZ “racism free is to fully acknowledge and commit to Te Tiriti o Waitangi”. Participants felt that the Crown must undertake a restorative approach to rectify the inequities produced by colonisation, white supremacy and racism. It must honour its obligations, set out in te Tiriti, to ensure safe relational spaces for joint discussion and decision-making. Such an approach needs clear goals and monitoring of progress. Many felt that te Tiriti is considered an after-thought by Government. One participant told us: Tangata Whenua largely supported a Tiritibased constitutional framework, as outlined in the Matike Mai Aotearoa report He Whakaaro Here Whakaumu Mō Aotearoa (Matike Mai Aotearoa) and the He Puapua report. Such reform would provide Māori with the full range of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, and help to eliminate racism. I think about the policies and procedures, and the legal systems that are currently at play. I think, what is unfortunately happening is that Te Tiriti is not being honoured and it isn’t being correctly applied. It’s not at the front of legislation, at the front of kōrero, it’s actually thought about afterwards. New frameworks based on te Tiriti were needed to achieve true partnership between Tangata Whenua and Tangata Tiriti. Another participant said: You really start to think about frameworks. … different organisations have their particular frameworks on how they are to run. What is disheartening, is lots of those frameworks are not built upon [the] … values of tika, pono and aroha, … things that could also help them abide by their obligations to Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Te Kāhui Tika Tangata Systems entrenched in colonialism/colonial values and practices that have continued to foster inequities and harm ... to Māori, Pasifika and all people of colour ... are acknowledged and demolished and worked through to be rectified. Constitutional transformation Matike Mai Aotearoa puts forward a pathway to constitutional reform by recommending six different Tiriti-based constitutional models where Māori and the Crown are equals. The report described the models as having: different spheres of influence: the ‘rangatiratanga sphere’, where Māori make decisions for Māori and the ‘kāwanatanga sphere’ where the Crown will make decisions for its people. The sphere where they will work together as equals we call the ‘relational sphere’ because it is where the Tiriti relationship will operate. It is the sphere where a conciliatory and consensual democracy would be most needed.xxii 36