A Wee Miracle for Waitangi Day

The Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill passed its second and third readings in Parliament on January 30th, and became law.

Glynn Cardy

I first heard about it from a link sent by a friend in Seattle. The link was to NPR(National Public Radio) in the USA. Then I went online trying to find it amongst our news outlets. Only the Wanganui Chronicle had it. (Wanganui being a small city of some 43,000 souls). And I found it was syndicated to the NZHerald website. I later found it on the Radio New Zealand website too.

In short, the news was that the Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill passed its second and third readings in Parliament on January 30th, and became law. This bill involves an apology and compensation for the Crown confiscating Taranaki Maunga (previously known as Mt Taranaki or Mt Egmont) and 1.2 million acres of Māori land in 1865. As part of the settlement the mountain will become a legal person, jointly managed by iwi and the Crown. The name of the national park, currently called Egmont National Park, will become Te Papa-Kura-o-Taranaki (meaning the highly regarded and treasured lands of Taranaki), while the highest peak will be named Taranaki Maunga.

The park and its contents will be vested as a legal person - so the park will effectively own itself. But Te Tōpuni Kōkōrangi, a collective of both iwi and Crown representatives, will manage the park and develop plans which will be approved by the conservation minister.

The pattern of officially acknowledging places as persons was first set with the Whanganui River, and then later Te Urewera (also a national park). Both places have ‘Great Walks’ and I’ve been privileged to hike and paddle them, and in so doing been enriched and nurtured by their spiritual presence. I’ve also hiked in Te Papa-Kura-o-Taranaki, but only twice. I have never been to the summit.

Co-management (or guardianship) is also an established pattern in these places and others. Such a pattern, with all its opportunities and difficulties as cultures work, struggle, and cooperate together, are part of what it means to give substance to and walk into the future with Te Tiriti O Waitangi. An apology, compensation, and the restructuring of governance are like first steps on that journey.

Though, of course, it needs to be said that even getting to this point with the passing of the bill has been arduous. As iwi negotiator Liana Poutu (Te Ātiawa) said, “(There have been since 1865) over 200 petitions sent to Parliament for this exact same thing that we've been negotiating for. It has been a long journey and those that went before us did the hard yards, they're not here to see the fruits of it, but their grandchildren, their mokopuna are here.” Around 400 people from the eight iwi of Taranaki - Ngaa Rauru Kiitahi, Ngāruahine, Ngāti Maru, Ngāti Mutunga, Ngāti Ruanui, Ngāti Tama, Taranaki iwi and Te Ātiawa - were at Parliament to see the settlement become law.

Acknowledging places as persons is common to many indigenous cultures around the world. In Te Ao Māori (the Māori worldview) mountains are ancestors. They are not resources, but living beings. They are not just nice places to visit or take photos of, but they have an energy or mauri (life-force/essence) of their own.

In the 4th century credal debates of the Church, the Latin West used the word person in relation to God. Namely God was said to be three persona (persons) but one substantia (substance). The Greek Eastern part of the Church struggled with the emphasis that persona gave to separateness, rather than oneness. Much debate, antagonistic debate, ensued.

My point simply is that the word persona was not used in relation to a human being. God, even the Risen Jesus, was not human as we are human. Yet God, though not human, like Taranaki Maunga, is not an object but a subject (an energy/essence) which can address us, call to us, invite us.

While I applaud the passing of this law, and the changes it will usher in, the spiritual understanding of a mountain as a person is not only one that resonates with iwi but also with pākehā like me. While one part of my brain wants to treat mountains, trees, and rivers as objects (albeit to be cared for and respected) another part of my brain (which I sometimes call the heart) hears them whispering, soothing, encouraging, calling my heart home to itself.

And the other thing about this bill was, surprisingly in this day of fractious politics stirred and shaken, was that all members of the NZ Parliament, all 123 of them, voted in favour, with no abstentions. A wee miracle to celebrate Waitangi Day.

Glynn