How does Te Tiriti o Waitangi compare to treaties in other colonial countries?

Aotearoa New Zealand is unique among settler colonial states in having one treaty with the indigenous people.

How does that compare with treaties made with other first nations in Canada, the US, and Australia?

North American Tribal leaders recently visited New Zealand sharing insights from their history and possible ways forward.

The 90:10 story

Heads turned at Te Pūnuiotoka - the final hui for Māori unity - when Canadian Tzeachten/Ch'íyáqtel Tribe Chief Derek Epp stood up and said they received 90 percent of taxes off their own lands.

"I will never say we are dependent on the government, never. We're self-sufficient," he said.

The Ch'íyáqtel people generate wealth from cost charges, tax and contributions off their own lands that more than half of their members live on. They collect approximately $2 billion through taksis (Chinook spelling of taxes) or rates.

"It protects us. It protects members, it protects our community."

But it has not always been that way.

In 1990, just 10 percent of total revenue came from the Tzeachten tribe and 90 percent was dependent on the government.

That has completely reversed in 2023, by the tribe taking the reins.

"Our choices were to continue down the negotiated path of trying to settle a treaty, we've been on this realm for almost 30 years."

Between 1701 and 1963 there were 70 signed treaties between the British Crown and 364 First Nations in Canada. These treaties are now 'historical,' and modern ones have been created.

"What I'm really proud of actually is just this last year, I've dismantled that treaty process and started a new approach - dismantling that process and telling the government they're wrong," Epp said.

He called for New Zealand Māori to follow suit.

"We can learn from each other, but you guys can speed this up because we did a lot of the heavy lifting."

Green Party MP Hūhana Lyndon put the tribe's success down to the relationships between Canadian tribes and their government.

"It takes commitment, and demonstrable commitment from the kāwanatanga side.

"Seeing the structural changes that have been made, and the commitment of the Canadian government toward nation building - because they view modern treaties as a key component of nation building, and that's reconciliation in action."

Lyndon said there were comparisons to be made, but New Zealand was not ready for such a drastic change.

"Fundamentally, our treaty has yet to be fully honoured."

And she said the treaty rights of Indigenous Canadian tribes were constitutionally protected.

"Without these protections, it's very difficult for us to talk about any further agreement, because we're not getting our fundamental agreement in place, strong, and locked in."

Jumping over the Tasman to the treaty-less Australia, a referendum was held to ensure the indigenous voice was heard in parliament.

The 'yes, or no' tick box allowed Australian voters decide that fate. The outcome saw 60 percent of votes against the Voice campaign, leading to a mourning period for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

The country has a history of treaty discussions, but no treaty between indigenous and the crown has ever been settled.

Instead, Australian Indigenous refer to 2017's Uluru settlement, which reads at the bottom: "In 1967 we were counted, in 2017 we seek to be heard."

A successful Voice campaign would have been the first step towards the creation of a treaty.

A benchmark relationship in the US

The United South and Eastern Tribes executive director Kitcki Carroll (Cheyenne and Arapaho) told RNZ that the relationship his tribe had with the US government was better than ever.

"The whole basis of our relationship with the United States is rooted in the US Constitution, numerous treaties, Supreme Court decisions, regulations, executive orders, and statutes. There's a variety of things," Carroll said.

Out of the 574 federally recognised Indian Nations, there are more than 300 treaties between individual tribes and the US.

The United States stopped treaty making in 1871, instead they have Trust obligations.

Kirk Francis, Chief at Penobscot Nation in Maine, said his tribe used to be treated as wards of the state.

"We didn't have running water or electricity up until the late 1970s. We couldn't even vote in our own state up until 1969, 1970."

The change has only happened within the past 45 years, and the tribe now have their own judicial branch, legislative branch, law enforcement, housing, education and health care, and they employ everyone to work in those facilities.

"We're doing quite well, but there's still a long way to go."

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