‘We believe in kotahitanga’

In the spirit of unity, Kāi Tahu have ventured north to mark Waitangi Day on the Waitangi Treaty Grounds alongside other iwi for the first time in years. Edward Ellison and Megan Pōtiki speak to Ruby Shaw about the history, kaupapa and aspirations of the journey.

It was a proclamation from the late Māori King, Kiingi Tuheitia, that caused thoughts in the South to turn to the north.

The Māori monarch’s call for unity in the face of government’s policies seen as regressive towards Māori and the Treaty of Waitangi galvanised people across the country.

"He called it kotahitanga [unity]," Te Rūnaka o Ōtākou upoko Edward Ellison said.

"That’s what’s taken us to where we are now. We believe in kotahitanga."

Kāi Tahu announced last month it would take this year’s te Tiriti o Waitangi commemorations to the Waitangi Treaty Grounds instead of holding its annual South Island festival, which Ōtākou was due to host.

"We believe in getting the good out of te Tiriti," Mr Ellison said. 

"It’s about relationships. It’s about talking to each other and working together for the better."

Hapū member Megan Pōtiki said a "stronghold" of about 60 Ōtākou hapū members would travel to Waitangi, joining a larger Ngāi Tahu group.

"And because it’s our Treaty Festival turn, and it was our whakaaro, it was our thought to go, we are leading that group." 

People of all ages formed the ope (group), including a strong contingent of skilled young people, she said.

"The point of what we’re doing here is that future generations become more skilled and more capable. Surely that’s the point."

It was a significant decision to forego the annual Ngāi Tahu Treaty Festival this year, Mr Ellison said.

The festival had experienced exceptional growth since its first occasion, when Ōtākou hosted  fewer than 100 people in 2000.

In contrast, when Ōtākou last held the festival in 2023, the marae grounds were packed with hundreds of people — Māori, pākehā and immigrants alike.

Mr Ellison believed the 1998 Ngāi Tahu Settlement had represented fresh endeavour towards progress, rather than a conclusion.

"It was going to take time, and it has. It’s taken 20 years to really make the progress that we envisaged would occur; it’s going to be forever."

In that sense, the government’s proposals and "attacks, really" on the Treaty came as a shock, particularly for young Māori, who had not experienced those antagonistic attitudes before, he said.

"It was like a cold wind came through."

Last year, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon bypassed commemorations at the Treaty Grounds at Waitangi in favour of Kāi Tahu’s event at Akaroa. 

Wheels began to turn following Kiingi Tuheitia’s proclamation for kotahitanga in December 2023 and the subsequent hui held across the country.

"They weren’t going to be talking about the government," Mr Ellison said.

"[It was] how can we work together? How can we solidify ourselves? And it made us wake up to the fact, ‘Ooh, actually, we haven’t been meeting like this’.

"There’s importance in that. And there’s growth in it. And there’s opportunity."

Dr Pōtiki said Māori had "never been tighter" and Ngāi Tahu would be among family.

"Our iwi are our brothers," she said.

"At the end of the day, we are discombobulated a little bit by the politics and we’re not happy about it. 

"I think we need to show unity — kotahitaka — at this point."

The occasion would be a celebration besides, she said.

"Respect to Ngāpuhi who have given us that ability to go on as Ngāi Tahu."

A copy of the Treaty of Waitangi arrived at a small beach on the Otago Peninsula on a blustery winter’s day in June 1840. 

There at Pukekura, two Ōtākou rakatira (leaders) signed the Herald Bunbury Sheet, a copy of the Treaty, about four months after their northern counterparts.

The signatures of Karitai and Korako were obtained there — the name of Ōtākou rakatira Taiaroa also appears on the document.

Ōtākou was a busy port, and local Māori were eager to see the benefits of trade, hospitals and schools.

"They weren’t at the Waitangi Treaty grounds when the Treaty was signed, but they wanted the Europeans here, they wanted to access the opportunity, and they wanted to retain obviously their rakatirataka," Mr Ellison said.

Land sales began in 1844, and from their traditional footprint across the region, Ōtākou hapū were pushed to the peninsula without the benefits promised in the Treaty and deeds, Mr Ellison said. 

Local leaders were mobile, and travelled the country to meetings of iwi, chiefs and governors in attempts to achieve what was promised, he said.

He "couldn’t probably imagine what it was like" for those rakatira, but often though about the change they experienced.

"They were searching for ways to restore what they thought they were going to achieve, and that’s been the process for every generation since."

Asked how it felt looking back on those leaders, Dr Pōtiki said the hapū probably chose "not to feel too much". 

"We’d been hammered — illness or poverty or being pushed out of the ability to collect your own food — it was just ongoing waves of being compromised as a people," she said.

"If you go down the feel factor, we wouldn’t be here ... in a good position as Ōtākou, a strong hapu, having to still engage fully with local government, national government, and be respectful, but also not lose our own mana in that process.

"Because if you put feelings into that, it’s too heartbreaking, right?"

Mr Ellison said elders had maintained their dignity and their mana throughout. 

In a final missive to his son before he died, Taiaroa expressed dismay at the situation, Dr Pōtiki said. 

"He did think that he signed in good faith with [Queen Victoria] ... chief-to-chief, but actually what he was leaving for his son was a legacy of broken promises."

Since the settlement, Ngāi Tahu have commemorated Waitangi Day with the festival, a concept initially proposed by Mr Ellison.

Hosting duties of the annual festival cycle between the three areas the Treaty was signed in Te Waipounamu — Ōtākou, Ruapuke (near Bluff) and Ōnuku in Akaroa Harbour.

Dr Pōtiki said groundswell among pākehā — who were treaty partners — had been notable. 

"The last festival we had here was just positive. Everyone wants to turn up." 

Work to build partnerships with local government agencies, institutions and education providers across Otago also contributed to the festival’s strength, Mr Ellison said.

"We know that whānau in Dunedin can celebrate Waitangi Day in their own way, because it is actually about kotahitaka, and that can be a group of people going to Waitangi or it can be within your own whānau," Dr Pōtiki said.

"Tangata Tiriti and us as Māori, we’re in a partnership together. 

"So, it’s not just for Māori to celebrate, right? It’s for everyone, too."

• The delegation will be welcomed on to Waitangi Marae with a pōwhiri this morning.

ruby.shaw@odt.co.nz