A significant final report by the Waitangi Tribunal will be handed over to the hapū of Ngāpuhi on December 9 at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds.
The report - the final report of Stage 2 Te Paparahi o te Raki Hearing Report (Part 1) - as a draft, provided several provocative and challenging recommendations.
The almost 2000-page draft report details the findings of the Tribunal’s years-long inquiry into Treaty breaches, land loss and military action suffered by Ngāpuhi between 1840 and 1900.
The report also urges the Government to return all Crown-owned land in Ngāpuhi’s tribal area - and to start talks with Māori about reworking New Zealand’s constitutional framework in the light of an earlier finding that Ngāpuhi chiefs did not cede sovereignty when they signed The Treaty of Waitangi in 1840.
The report follows 27 weeks of hearings held between 2013 and 2017 on marae around Te Paparahi o te Raki, an area spanning from Mangamuka to Waitemata.