July 04, 2024
An open letter has been sent to the Government expressing significant concerns over its proposed Treaty Principals Bill
Treaty Principles Bill: Open letter to the Coalition Government of Aotearoa
New Zealand from professional translators of te reo Māori 1 July 2024
Rt Hon Christopher Luxon, Prime Minister
Hon Nicola Willis, Deputy Leader of the National Party
Hon Tama Potaka, Minister for Māori Development and Minister for Māori Crown Relations: Te Arawhiti
Hon Paul Goldsmith, Minister of Justice and Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations
Hon David Seymour, Deputy Prime Minister
Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister
Rt Hon Gerry Brownlee, Speaker
Hon Judith Collins, Attorney General
CC:
Rt Hon Chris Hipkins, Leader of the Labour Party
Hon Carmel Sepuloni, Deputy Leader of the Labour Party
Hon Willie Jackson, Labour Spokesperson for Māori Development
Hon Ginny Andersen, Labour Spokesperson for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations
Hon Peeni Henare, Labour Spokesperson for Māori Crown Relations: Te Arawhiti
Hon David Seymour, Leader of the ACT Party
Hon Winston Peters, Leader of the New Zealand First Party
Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, Co-Leader of Te Pāti Māori
Rawiri Waititi, Co-Leader of Te Pāti Māori
Chloe Swarbrick, Co-Leader of the Green Party
Marama Davidson, Co-Leader of the Green Party
Steve Abel, Green Spokesperson for Māori Crown Relations: Te Arawhiti and Treaty of Waitangi
The pending Treaty Principles Bill is based on highly inaccurate translation that
breaches international ethical standards of translation and risks enshrining fiction as
legal fact at the heart of our nation’s constitutional arrangements.
E te Pirimia, e ngā Minita, tēnā koutou katoa
Prime Minister and Ministers,
We are highly concerned that Ministers are using deeply flawed translations of te reo Māori
in the Treaty Principles Bill. Doing so misrepresents foundational concepts; misinforms
public discourse; does violence to a treasured and official language; and will cause serious,
long-term harm to national unity and confidence in good governance. Effective and
responsible political debate and government actions should never be premised on
misinformation. We encourage the Prime Minister to insist that all Ministers uphold truth and
accuracy as the most basic standards of good governance.
This letter focuses on our area of professional expertise only. Our responsibility is to the
languages involved, the reputation and trustworthiness of the translation profession,
international ethical standards of translation, and the principle of truth.
The Treaty principles proposed for inclusion in the Treaty Principles Bill are based on
extremely inaccurate translation of te Tiriti o Waitangi. It would be misleading to the public
to introduce a Bill based on the principles that are being promoted by the Honourable David
Seymour. These inaccuracies are demonstrated by a standard quality-assurance process for
translation, which is to back-translate the resulting translation to the source language, in order
to ensure that the meaning remains the same. The translation of te Tiriti being promoted for The Treaty Principles Bill entirely fails this benchmark. The meanings and intentions of the proposed Treaty principles do not correlate with those of the Māori text of te Tiriti.
It is incumbent upon any organisation undertaking actions or decisions based on translation
from one language to another to ensure that the translation relied on is of the utmost quality.
This is achieved by the translation being undertaken by approved professional translators and
subject to peer review and quality assurance by the same. The importance of this is further
heightened when the translation forms the basis of a policy direction or a Bill that is to be
publicly debated and introduced to Parliament.
The government has legal, political and ethical obligations to actively protect and preserve te
reo Māori. To allow a deeply flawed interpretation of te reo Māori to be entered into a Bill,
introduced to Parliament and taken to select committee is in breach of these government
obligations, good faith and good governance. It is a provocative misuse of an official
language of this nation. When Government Ministers’ actions or government processes are
based on seriously erroneous translation, our unity and integrity as a nation are undermined.
International translation ethical standards are critical to ensure that a translation is a true
reflection of the source text, reflecting its meaning and intent. A profound responsibility
applies to the task of converting text from one language to another, and one must translate in
a way that ensures fidelity of meaning. Adhering to ethical standards is central to the integrity
and effectiveness of translation as a professional service, nationally and globally. Key
translation ethics include a commitment to accuracy, cultural sensitivity and awareness,
professional competence, objectivity and impartiality.
A commitment to accuracy requires capturing the essence and context of the source text,
and conveying the intended message as faithfully as possible, without additions,
omissions or distortions.
The existing common law Treaty principles largely align with the requirement to capture the
essence and context of the source text. The proposed Treaty principles entirely fail this
standard and are not faithful to the intended messages of te Tiriti. They ignore the truthful
historical context of te Tiriti being an agreement signed with Māori. The preamble of te Tiriti
is an important context for understanding the meanings and intentions of the text of the
articles of te Tiriti, as is the cultural, linguistic and historical context. Furthermore, there are
several additions, omissions and distortions in the proposed principles resulting from the
translation.
The additions include the right of the New Zealand Government to govern all New
Zealanders, the extension of tino rangatiratanga to all New Zealanders, the concept of
individual property rights, the concept of equality before the law, and the inclusion of all New
Zealanders in article 3.
Additionally, the broader guarantee of article 2 to tino rangatiratanga of whenua, kāinga and
taonga [“the unqualified exercise of their paramount authority over their lands, villages and
all their treasures’’]1 is omitted. While it is beyond the scope of this letter to provide
definitive translations of te Tiriti, this reference shows the breadth of the original article 2
guarantee.
The promise in te Tiriti to give Māori the rights of British citizens, in addition to the retention
of their pre-existing rights, is entirely distorted into asserting, in the proposed principles, that
all New Zealanders have the same rights and duties.
Cultural sensitivity and awareness are of supreme importance in translation – being
aware of cultural nuances, and understanding and respecting the cultural context of
both the source and target languages.
The translation of the term tino rangatiratanga as chieftainship for all New Zealanders over
their land and property breaches the ethical standard of cultural sensitivity and awareness.
Tino rangatiratanga is a Māori concept applied to Māori, and is primarily a collective right. It
can only be understood from within its own cultural framework. It cannot, by definition, be
extended to apply to all New Zealanders. Tino rangatiratanga is much more than property
rights.
Professional competence entails that translators only undertake work they are
competent to perform in the languages for which they are professionally qualified
through training and credentials. This includes only undertaking translation within
one’s professional limits and areas of translation expertise.
The translation of the Māori language of te Tiriti is a specialist task. The qualifications for
undertaking that work are high, requiring recognised translation qualifications, as well as
knowledge of historical language and familiarity with previous expert translations of this
document, its context, Māori dialects and missionary language.
The Honourable David Seymour has not named any recognised professional Māori
translators who have been involved in the translation for the proposed principles, and he has
stated that he is responsible for any errors. The Crown acknowledged to the Waitangi
Tribunal inquiry for the Wai 3300 claim that no Māori language expert had been involved in
development of the Bill to date. Without evidence to the contrary, it must be assumed that the
translation has not been completed by appropriately qualified and competent professional
translators. The resulting inaccuracies in the translation are of grave concern for the
development of a Bill that could be enshrined in New Zealand law.
Objectivity and impartiality are essential to ensure the translation is a neutral and
accurate representation of the original text and is free from personal interpretation. A
translator must not insert their personal beliefs or biases into their work, particularly
when undertaking translation in the legal field. A translator must aim to ensure that the
full intent of the communication is conveyed in a complete and accurate transfer of the
message.
1 Translation by McCully Matiu and Dr Margaret Mutu, 2003, quoted in Te Whakaputanga me Te Tiriti,
Waitangi Tribunal, 2010, p. 350.
The full intent of the communications contained within te Tiriti is completely absent in the
proposed Treaty principles. The weighting that te Tiriti gave to government has been greatly
increased in the proposed Treaty principles, and both the weighting and the meaning that te
Tiriti gave to tino rangatiratanga for Māori have been reduced and diluted to the point of
complete loss of its authentic meaning. The guarantees that te Tiriti made to Māori have been
either entirely omitted or erroneously extended to all New Zealanders.
The proposed Treaty principles, which are claimed to result from the Māori text of te Tiriti,
bear little resemblance to the meaning and intent of the source text, and instead appear to
encapsulate ACT Party political preferences. In combination with the other evidence outlined
above, this suggests that the ethical standards of objectivity and impartiality have not been
adhered to.
In summary, these ethical standards have all been seriously breached in the purported
translation of te Tiriti that is foundational to the proposed Treaty principles. The numerous
breaches of the professional ethical standards for translation mean that national and
international standards have not been met in the principles proposed for the upcoming Bill.
The linguistic, cultural and historical context of te Tiriti have been ignored. The resulting
material is completely inadequate for a government process, even more so for one that seeks
to radically change the constitutional platform of our country. This must never be undertaken
on a foundation of misinformation.
Requested actions
It is not sufficient that the National Party have publicly stated that they will not support the
Bill past first reading and select committee. We call on both the Prime Minister and the
National Party to act honourably and reasonably by undertaking the following actions:
1) Allow a conscience vote by all Members of Parliament on the Treaty Principles Bill
for all readings, should it proceed to Parliament.
2) Not allow an entrenchment clause to be included in the Bill, given the deep
inaccuracies of translation and foundational concepts.
3) Publicly and firmly state that the content of the Bill is premised on inaccurate
translation and analysis, and that the omission of explicit mention of Māori from the
proposed Treaty principles is contrary to the meaning and intention of te Tiriti; and
that the Bill does not represent the National Party or the National-led Government’s
views on the ongoing relationship of good faith with Māori established through te
Tiriti o Waitangi.
4) Request the names, translation qualifications and credentials of any people involved
in the translation of te Tiriti that led to the proposed Treaty principles, including those
who undertook peer review and quality assurance. Confirm publicly that the
qualifications and credentials of these people adhere to professional standards OR that
the translation does not meet the standards required by government.
5) Maintain a standard of truth for legislation, and do not allow the Treaty Principles Bill
to be introduced to Parliament until it can be publicly confirmed that the translation
that is foundational to it has been professionally completed and verified, and that
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rigorous quality assurance by professional and suitably qualified translators has been
completed to the satisfaction of those translators.
6) Affirm support for te reo Māori as an indigenous, highly valuable and official
language.
Heoi anō, noho ora mai i te pae o ēnā o ā tātou mahi
Nā mātou tahi, nā
Piripi Walker
Nellie-Ann Te Kowhai Abraham
Paiheretia Aperahama
Dr Hona Black
Leon Morrell Heketū Blake
Nigel Brooke
Melissa Bryant
Komene Cassidy
Ian C Cormack, Fellow NZSTI
Ngairo Eruera
Donovan Te Ahunui Farnham
Dr Karena Kelly
Te Mihinga Komene
Dr Jeremy Tātere MacLeod
Te Haumihiata Mason ONZM
Urupikia Minhinnick
Stacey Morrison
Melanie Nelson
Dr Vincent Ieni Olsen-Reeder
Te Ahu Rei
Te Korou Whangataua Roberts
Mark Ngāhōia Scott
Kristin Smith
Ariana Stevens
Amiria Stirling
Regan Kupu Stokes
Karuna Thurlo