A dawn karakia at Te Rerenga Wairua has launched a national hīkoi opposing the Treaty Principles Bill and government policy impacting Māori.
Hīkoi mō te Tiriti participants have started a nine-day journey to Wellington, with thousands expected to join the convoy as it makes its way across the country.
The hīkoi convoy will travel through Northland and is expected to make its first stop in Kaitaia at 10am Monday.
Participants will continue on to Moerewa, then Kawakawa, before arriving in Whangārei which will mark the first leg of the journey.
Designated runners will walk/run the distances between the main 'activation' points, but the majority of participants will make the journey in vehicle.
Up to 300 people arrived well ahead of time and were welcomed onto Pōtahi Marae in Te Kao on Sunday night, with some people travelling from as far away as Waikato.
Speaking at the pōwhiri, Hone Harawira celebrated the wave of new, young leaders taking the helm of the protest movement, calling them the "sunrise generation".
Eru Kapa-Kingi speaking at Waitangi in February. Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
Hīkoi organiser Eru Kapa-Kingi said he wanted to honour the legacy of those before him, and he understood the weight of the mahi on his shoulders.
"When the Foreshore and Seabed hīkoi happened I was just seven years old, and obviously I wasn't around in the land march of 1975. So it's humbling looking back and just knowing how much has been done way before I even started to walk this Earth - but it's also quite reassuring, and I find confidence in it as well, knowing there's a legacy there ... surely I won't veer that that far away from that example, because it's so strong."
The Treaty Principles Bill
One of the key driving forces behind the hīkoi is the ACT Party's Treaty Principles Bill. Organisers had planned to arrive at Parliament in time for the first reading of the Bill, but it was introduced earlier than expected.
Last Tuesday The Waitangi Tribunal released part two of its interim report into the Bill, saying the government had breached its Treaty obligations multiple times in the development and progression of the legislation.
The Tribunal urged the government to abandon the Bill, saying its introduction would "advance an agenda of assimilation". It also said the revised principles in the bill "are designed to end the distinct status of Māori as the indigenous people of this country".
The Bill was introduced two days later.
Protesters at Waitangi on 6 February. Photo: RNZ / Peter de Graaf
ACT leader David Seymour dismissed criticism of the legislation and said the change in the date of its introduction was a part of "normal process".
The concern raised about the change was "much ado about nothing", he said.
Kapa-Kingi said he held out a 10 percent hope that the Bill, and everything connected to it, would be abandoned immediately as a result of the hīkoi.
"But 90 percent of the hope is that my own people realise the strength within themselves, within us as an iwi, our own mana, our own magic and power, and that we truly start moving towards a liberated version of ourselves as a people, where we are the makers of our own tikanga, where we shape our own lives and the lives of our tamariki and our mokopuna. And that would really just be a reflection of the world that our tupuna lived in before Pākehā arrived here, before Te Tiriti."
Kapa-Kingi said the current government had not strayed from the status quo of the past 200 or so years.
"No Pākehā government since 1853 has honoured Te Tiriti o Waitangi. In fact, the very existence of a Pākehā government that controls Māori lives is in direct violation of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. It was never envisaged that a Pākehā government would be created to govern Maori ... so since 1853 there has been one continual assault, you might call it, on our mana.
"The behaviour by this current government, I guess it's more bold and a little bit more jarring, but essentially it is nothing new.
"Te Tiriti is actually your friend. It's what allowed you to make a home here. And the reciprocation is respect for the mana of tangata whenua. So embrace it. And actually, I think Te Tiriti is the cure for a lot of the hardships and inequalities that are felt all across Aotearoa, not just with Māori. So a world where Te Tiriti o Waitangi is alive and well is a world where we are all alive and well."
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