Protesters at Five Crossroads in Hamilton during last year's activation call.
Protesters at Five Crossroads in Hamilton during last year's activation call.
In 24 hours, Te Kōhao Health will take to the streets to join the swelling national Toitū Te Tiriti hīkoi heading to Parliament.
Starting at 10am on Thursday, an estimated crowd of 6000 will march through the main streets of Kirikiriroa in a united show of tino rangatiratanga. All Hamiltonians are welcome to join the march.
The crowd will gather at FMG Stadium Waikato (Mill Park Reserve), then march to Ulster St and down the main boulevard in Hamilton, Victoria St, finishing in Garden Pl where there will be speeches.
Organisers have worked with police,Māori wardens and Hamilton City Council to ensure safety and the mana of this Tainui Toitū Te Tiriti leg is maintained.
“It’s essential that we unite in solidarity, embodying kotahitanga, and stand together to bring our collective concerns before this government - particularly regarding their actions on the Treaty Principles Bill,” said Lady Tureiti Moxon, managing director of Te Kōhao Health.
As a lawyer and former member of the Waitangi Tribunal, and lead claimant in current kaupapa inquiries on health and the Constitution, she believes this community rally is about rights, not race.
“Te Tiriti o Waitangi is enshrined in our Constitution, yet many have struggled to voice their frustrations, hopes, and dreams around it until now.”
Moxon reinforces that Māori have the right to live as Māori and to care for their own, on their own terms.
“Stepping into the heart of the city on a busy business day makes a powerful statement against the government’s attempts to tamper with our founding document - an action that harms our country, harms our people, and risks dragging us back a century.”
Standing up for indigenous rights and supporting whānau is at the heart of the Te Kōhao Health kaupapa.
Lady Tureiti Moxon, managing director of Te Kohao Health.
On Monday, Moxon filed a Statement of Claim in Wai 3300 - Tomokia ngā tatau o Matangireia - the Constitutional Kaupapa Inquiry by the Waitangi Tribunal ahead of the wānanga a rohe in Ngāruawāhia on December 2 and 3.
“Whenever Māori appear to look as if we are successful at anything, the Crown takes it upon itself to deconstruct it and dismantle all the hard work that we have done under Te Tiriti to better our health and realise our own tino rangatiratanga and mana motuhake.”
The government’s attempt to change the enshrined Te Tiriti principles without consultation with anyone else, particularly their Treaty partner, is a complete transgression of indigenous rights, Moxon said.
“They have unilaterally decided on behalf of everybody that they have a right to do this in the name of democracy, trying to uphold a Westminster parliamentary system that dominates over Māori.
“When in actual fact the Treaty brings together two groups on an equal footing, for them to look after themselves and for us to look after ourselves - that’s what Te Tiriti was all about.
“The government’s true actions now reveal a Crown that sees itself as being all-powerful and sovereign, doing what it like in the name of democracy.”
