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On each occasion it has lost out to the more powerful grouping of Ngati Whatua. Te Taou seems destined to go down in history as the lost tribe - first of Tamaki and now of Kaipara. Now it's happening again, with Te Taou shut out of the Kaipara deal, which is on the verge of proceeding from Agreement in Principle to Deed of Settlement. In 2006, finding itself excluded from the Tamaki Makaurau settlement, Te Taou sparked an urgent inquiry to the Waitangi Tribunal, which was subsequently joined by 11 other tribes contesting Ngati Whatua's sole claim in the region.Īll except Te Taou received a settlement. "We have just been lumped under this group and this tupuna." He says Te Taou's original tupuna is Toutara. "The eponymous tupuna of Te Taou is certainly not Haumoewaarangi ," says Paul. Paul explains that groupings like Ngati Whatua o Kaipara are not recognised hapu or iwi and, adding insult to injury, are planning to represent Te Taou under the wrong ancestor. At the moment Paul says Te Taou can show 500 members but he believes there are many more - Maori who live in ignorance of their ancestry, their history and their connection to the Te Taou tribal rohe. What they wanted was funds to hold mandating hui to establish their legitimacy - something all other tribes in the region have been given. For Te Taou, it's a problem of wrong whakapapa and wrong history - the result of a Treaty settlement process hell-bent on expediency ahead of historical accuracy. Te Taou wants to be recognised as separate from Ngati Whatua. Therein lies a seemingly insurmountable problem.
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As far as he's concerned the group can partake of the settlement - all they have to do is sign up under the Crown's mandated parties, Ngati Whatua o Kaipara or Te Runanga o Ngati Whatua. "We have no option because we are being forced to go under a tupuna to which we don't belong and which we don't descend from."ĭreaver is unmoved.
#Te hapu nz plus
Their grievance is being excluded from the $22.1 million Kaipara settlement, a deal which includes an offer to purchase the 12,500ha Woodhill Forest, plus accumulated rentals from the Crown forest licence. The group, led by Paul (Paora Kawharu), has delivered a forceful, at times passionate, message. To others - possibly some in the room - he's known as Michael Cleaver, the Crown hatchet man. The go-between man for facilitator Sir Douglas Graham, Dreaver is mostly seen as the one who takes the heat out of Treaty negotiations. He was the chief Crown negotiator in the Tamaki Makaurau settlement signed by 12 Auckland tribes last year. I'm in the background with other observers.ĭreaver is no stranger to tension. Around the small dining table are Lou Paul, Hori Kupenga Manuka, John Paaka Edwards, Sabrina Kidwell and Eriapa Uruamo representing the iwi of Te Taou. The air doesn't budge and everyone sits quietly steaming. The ranchslider is open, assisted by an electric fan battling for breeze, in the cramped pensioner flat. Michael Dreaver has listened patiently for 45 minutes on a muggy afternoon in Ranui.