labellementeuse | te tiriti o waitangi

Today was Waitangi Day, which commemorates the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, February the 6th, 1840.

I didn't think much about the Treaty today, except when I walked past the festival at Waitangi Park in Wellington - the first time, I think, there's been any kind of celebration in Wellington (there's always a big thing at Waitangi marae, of course.) I do know celebrating it is not always considered kosher. The Treaty of Waitangi was supposed to do three things: 1. give sovreignty to the British crown, 2. guarantee Maori land rights and customary rights and taonga and 3. guarantee Maori equal rights as citizens. Of course, it's kind of tough to say exactly what the Treaty was supposed to do since it was not translated all that well.

We didn't manage to live up to it all that well. The Waitangi Tribunal, which is supposed to investigate breaches of treaty and make reparations where appropriate, is normally pretty busy. Ironically, some Pakeha begin to feel hard done by, since (apparently) this makes Maori more privileged. I don't need to tell any of you that, with Maori persistently over-represented in poor health, poverty and crime stats, that simply isn't true. We can do better.

I don't know if I would call the treaty our constitution. Maybe our founding document. But I believe in the treaty principles and their active application in everyday life. I believe biculturalism is vital to New Zealand (and so is multiculturalism.)

That's really all. I'm not smart about this and I'm not very educated but I know it is important and I want to acknowledge that.

Instead of being real thinky though, today I went to the beach, got sunburnt, swam, drank wine and ate junk food and walked for two hours. I had a great time and I'm really going to miss Welly when I go back to Christchurch this Saturday.