By Roger Childs

A Time for all Kiwis

Whatever people’s ethnicity, Waitangi Day is for all New Zealanders. In 2026, we mark the 186th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi (Te Tiriti o Watangi), sometimes called “our founding document”.  This agreement guaranteed certain rights to all people living in the country at the time, both the Natives (later called Maori), and recent settlers, in exchange for British sovereignty. 

Unfortunately there have been incidents in the past, where the formalities at Waitangi have been marred by protests, political grandstanding and the jostling of dignitaries. 

February 6 should be a day when we celebrate unity in diversity, and media reports should be about people getting together in positive ways in our multi-cultural society. This is what the Canadians and Australians do on their national days.

Bicultural to multicultural

In 1840 New Zealand was a thinly populated country with most inhabitants from two cultures:

  • descendants of Polynesian migrants who began arriving a few centuries before and absorbed the people already living here
  • settlers of European origin, mainly from Britain, New South Wales, Europe and the United States.

Today we are a cosmopolitan society with citizens from almost every cultural and national group on the planet. So the biculturalism of 186 years ago has given way to a rich tapestry of many ethnic influences in the 21st century. 

Whatever their origins, all the people of New Zealand are equally important and Waitangi Day should celebrate our diversity and the cultural richness of our modern society. 

In recent years it has been common for tribal leaders and their fellow travellers like Chris Hipkins and Labour, The Greens, and the Waitangi Tribunal to claim Waitangi Day for Maori. The reality is that all Maori today are actually descended mainly from colonists and white settlers, and have only a small amount of Polynesian blood.

What the Treaty (Te Tiriti) said

“Treaty obligations” is a phrase that slips easily off the tongue and the pen, and various claims are consequently made, notably by the Legacy media. However, it is often said that everyone needs to read the Treaty fairly and carefully before claiming anything, remembering that there was only one Treaty and it was very specific. 

In Article 1 of Te Tiriti, the chiefs of New Zealand granted sovereignty to Queen Victoria and her heirs forever. This undertaking was later endorsed by over 100 chiefs at the Kohimarama Conference in 1860. 

In the second article the chiefs and tribes, and all the people of New Zealand – nga tangata katoa o Nu Tirani – were guaranteed full possession of their lands, dwellings and all their property. There was no mention of Fisheries or Forests. 

Article 3 was a deal – in return for granting Queen Victoria sovereignty over Nu Tirani, all the people of New Zealand were given “the rights and privileges of British subjects”. The natives, later called Maori, were thus given equal privileges, but not special rights.

It was all very straight forward with no mention of a partnership, principles or co-governance. It is crucial today for the Maori tribes, politicians, and anyone making claims about what the Treaty promised, to back up their ideas with reference to one or more of the Articles. 

So enjoy the day, confident in the knowledge that you have the same citizenship rights as everyone else.