Listen Now: 
Ngāti Maru members have voted overwhelmingly in support of the settlement of their historic claims.
Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Maru (Taranaki) Trust lead negotiator Anaru Marshall says the 92 percent yes vote is an emphatic message from the Iwi.
Turn out was 47 percent of registered adult members.
Trust chair Holden Hohaia hopes the Deed of Settlement will be signed before the end of the year.
The settlement for the 3000-strong tribe includes a Crown apology, completion of its $30 million financial redress, a cultural revitalisation fund, relationship agreements with Government agencies, and 16 cultural redress properties including school properties, part of Tarata cemetery east of Inglewood and conservation land.
Three schools and the Stratford Police Station will be acquired and leased back to the Crown.
The iwi lost 220,000 hectares in 1856 to confiscation and dubious land deals.
Ngāti Maru is the final iwi of Taranaki to complete its Treaty of Waitangi settlement.
The iwi rohe (tribal area) of Ngāti Maru stretches from Taranaki Maunga heading north west to the source of the Waitara River, across to the Heao Stream and down to the Whanganui River and back across the Matemateaonga Range to Stratford.
!["p_facebook"]("/site/uma/images/story_img/facebook.jpg")
& !["p_twitter"]("/site/uma/images/story_img/twitter.jpg")
Copyright © 2020, UMA Broadcasting Ltd: www.waateanews.com
RELATED NEWS
