March 15, 2017
Whanganui mana acknowledged in awa tupua settlement
Whanganui iwi members descended on Wellington this morning for a special sitting of parliament passing their river claim settlement bill.
Spokesperson Gerard Albert says tohunga declared a fast from midnight to prepare for the day.
He says it's an emotional time remembering elders like the late Sir Archie Taiaroa, who laid out the framework for a settlement that acknowledged the mana of the iwi by first acknowledging the mana of the river.
"We're not coming down here to seek our mana or the river's mana really, we still hold that, but what we are here to witness it the nation acknowledging the mana of the river and in so doing acknowledge that the river is essentially now defined at law as us. That changes a whole lot of dynamics," Mr Albert says.
FULL INTERVIEW WITH GERARD ALBERT
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