Background on whakataurangi / pledge

Te Tiriti o Waitangi 

Te Tiriti obligations here include recognition of tino rangatiratanga over taonga including kai, and of iwi and hapū authority over the whenua, moana and takutai. We acknowledge that the mechanisms proposed are mainly Crown mechanisms, so a Tiriti-honouring approach would give Māori genuine decision-making authority within those structures. 

Kai Motuhake 

While this document  largely speaks for the people in Aotearoa who access kai through commercial or market-based systems, we acknowledge that many whānau, hapū, and  communities, both Maori and Tāngata o Te Tiriti continue to meet some or most of their kai  needs through hunting, gathering, fishing, and growing kai outside commercial channels. These kai systems have sustained Māori for hundreds of years, remain living and active today. Māori kai sovereignty already exists, and the inherent practices and mātauranga provided resilience and sustainability that remains an aspiration today. What is needed now is the conditions to reclaim and exercise kai motuhake, as guaranteed under Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Further,  we acknowledge customary food practices and the rights and knowledge systems that underpin them, including the role of rāhui and kaitiakitanga in managing taonga like mātaitai sustainably across generations. It also carries a fundamental challenge to the commodification of kai.

Return to the full Whakataurangi/Pledge here.