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April 04, 2023
Doctrine of discovery lives on in official mindset
Adam Gifford
Posted On April 4, 2023
Download AudioA Māori environmentalist says the Catholic Church may have repudiated the doctrine of discovery, but its effects linger on in the way this country is governed.
A pair of Vatican dicasteries or committees has said the Church clearly rejects the doctrine, which was spelt out by popes in the 1400s to justify the establishment of European colonies in Africa and the Americas and then replaced in 1533 with a statement upholding the rights of Indigenous peoples.
Tina Ngata says the doctrine set off the age of discovery, or as Indigenous people may know it, the age of genocide.
She says the doctrine was used as a precedent in New Zealand law to remove Maori property rights.
It continues to be part of government thinking, such as when officials talk about things like productive land.
“When the government assumes the right over the top of the people of that land to determine if that land is productive or not and so and therefore worthy of flood remediation or not for example, that’s an application of the mindset of the doctrine of discovery so it’s a mindset and it’s a legal concept and it’s also a political justification of legitimisation of European authority,” Ms Ngata says.
She says the Catholic Church should pay reparations for the damage done by the doctrine of discovery.
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