default-output-block.skip-main
Regional | Crown

Ngāpuhi prepared to go to the United Nations

Ngāpuhi are prepared to take their treaty claims to the United Nations if they're not properly addressed here at home.  This from the hapū of Hokianga following the final week of Waitangi Tribunal hearings of Ngapuhi claims in Northland.

Professor Pat Hohepa says it’s a process they've followed due to the Crowns' failure to address issues relating to Te Tiriti o Waitangi and the 1835 Declaration of Independence. "The Crown must come face up to discuss where and when our sovereignty will be returned to Ngāpuhi because we've never ceded it but the Crown stole it.  They must acknowledge this and return it."

To date it’s been a six year process during which the Crown recognised the mandate of Tuhoronuku to settle all Ngāpuhi claims which created major divisions in Ngāpuhi.  Now elders say the job is done and it time to unite and move forward.

Hinerangi Puru says, "There is a lot of work to be done now to unite us and for me its priority that we make peace so when the time comes we will fight government and not ourselves."

Professor Pat Hohepa says, "We can once again govern ourselves like in Samoa and Tonga and Fiji.  There's no problem for us if the councils in Northland are devolved and governance returned to a Ngāpuhi Government."