February 17, 2021
COVID threat means iwi drops treaty signing event
Ngāti Maru has canned a proposed treaty settlement signing on the site of a former kainga beside the Waitara river because of concerns about the latest COVID-19 community cases.
Negotiators will instead travel to Wellington next week to sign the deed.
Trustees say there will be a celebration in the rohe once the settlement comes into law later this year.
The iwi lost 220,000 hectares of central Taranaki through the 1865 raupatu and subsequent fraudulent purchases.
Much of that land is now administered by the Department of Conservation, some of which will come back through cultural redress.
Ngāti Maru will buy the 4500 hectares under the Te Wera Forest, Tarata and Matau schools and Stratford police station with some of its $30 million commercial redress, which will provide some income.
Negotiator Anaru Marshall says the settlement has brought the iwi together, with the number of registered members rising from from 800 to over 3000 during the process, and it’s keen to find more.
"There's been a real favour in the iwi around this process. The settlement processes can be ugly and horrible but there are some upsides. It's not all about the money. It's about reconnecting with whānau. It's about people reconnecting with their own identity, and that's a real positive aspect of this process," he says.
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