A Māori law expert says the Waitangi Tribunal has helped Aotearoa better understand Treaty history and Māori-Crown relations for the past 49 years.
On this day in 1975, after many protests by Māori regarding unresolved Treaty grievances, Parliament was prompted to establish the Waitangi Tribunal to legally investigate contemporary Māori Treaty claims.
Pūkenga Matua at Te Wānanga o Raukawa, Dr Carwyn Jones, says the Tribunal has educated and changed societal perspectives on Māori-Crown relations, especially after historical Treaty claims were included in 1985.
“Many New Zealanders, who didn’t know the stories of where they were from, where they live, and the history of those places and what had happened in-relation to the local tangata whenua. And it’s only through that work that the Tribunal has done and others to expand our understanding, to broaden the understanding of our history,” says Dr Jones.
