Wednesday, 10 February 2010
NGATI Awa was accorded a remarkable honour on Saturday when its cultural adviser Pouroto Ngaropo led the powhiri at the national Waitangi Day celebrations.
In a departure from custom, host iwi Ngapuhi asked Mr Ngaropo, Te Runanga O Ngati Awa’s deputy chairman, to officiate at the 170th celebration of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi at the Northland settlement.
“It was a great honour and I felt very privileged,” Mr Ngaropo said yesterday. “That was the first time an outsider has led the opening.”
Ngapuhi and Ngati Awa both trace their ancestry to the Mataatua canoe.
Mr Ngaropo launched the 24-waka fleet at the start of the celebrations then welcomed Prime Minister John Key and the official party on to the Treaty grounds at Te Tii Marae.
He led a 1000-man haka party as he recited Ngapuhi genealogy during the welcome.
His paternal grandfather was Ngapuhi, so he learned the iwi’s whakapapa from the age of 13, and he said recalling the northern tribe’s whakapapa and haka in the leadup to the February 6 celebrations had not proved too difficult.
Mr Ngaropo described Mr Key’s acknowledgement of the tino rangatiratanga flag, flown by Maori since 1835, as a major breakthrough. The prime minister had worn it on his lapel alongside the New Zealand flag, and it flew from the Auckland Harbour Bridge on Saturday.
Mr Key told those present that more consultation with Maori was needed to determine what would replace the controversial Foreshore and Seabed Act.
Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia’s whanau ora programme to improve Maori health statistics was also a talking point, Mr Ngaropo said.
“The Government has recognised that you can’t have a healthy community until the core of the family is well.”
He had noted proposals by some Ngapuhi - who held that they possessed sovereign powers in their rohe - to issue visas to Pacific Islanders. Ngati Awa had adopted a “more integrated” stance and believed immigration issues were best handled in partnership with the Government.
Mr Ngaropo also welcomed Labour leader Phil Goff and his party on to the marae and discussion at that time turned again to perceived injustice on the part of many Maori for Labour’s passing of the foreshore and seabed legislation.
He said former Ngai Tahu runanga chief executive Shane Jones, a Labour list MP, was touted as a future Labour leader.
Ngati Awa waka Mataatua Toroa sailed with the waka fleet but it will not return to Whakatane immediately. Under the guidance of Ngapuhi kaumatua Hector Busby, the waka will be modified so sea water does not spill over the prow when it dips into waves.