Ko Te Tiriti o Waitangi me He Whakaputanga te whakapūmautanga o tō Tauiwi tū ki tēnei whenua a Niu Tīreni. Ka mihi atu au ki a rātou mā i whakairo i ōna kupu whaitake, waihoki te whakamoemiti atu ki ngā whakatupuranga kua whakapau kaha ki te whakatuarā i ngā take i whakaaetia e ōna kaitohu hei māngai mā ō rātou hapū, me ō rātou iwi.
He Tangata Tiriti ahau. Nō te whakamarutanga o Te Tiriti heke mai ai ki ahau tōku mana tū tika i kōnei, me ngā haepapa hoki e wawatahia nei i taua tū. Ki te pānui mai koe i tēnei karere mai te tūnga o Niu Tīreni, kei ō ringa hoki te haepapa whāwhai kia whakamanahia tonutia ai Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
Kāti rā, tae mai te tau 2040 kua rua rautau ki mua mai te hainatanga o tō tātou Tiriti. Ko te urupounamu mā tātou katoa e noho nei kei Niu Tīreni, he tāngata whakapūmau rānei tātou?
Te Tiriti (and its predecessor, ‘He Whakaputanga’) is the founding document of our country and I am grateful to those who worked together to create it, and to those who work to uphold what was agreed by its signatories.
I am Tangata Tiriti and I feel so lucky for the rights and responsibilities Te Tiriti gives me. If you are reading this in Aotearoa, whoever you are, it is your job to ensure the document lives and thrives.
We will mark 200 years since the signing of Te Tiriti in 2040. Who, as a community, do we want to be?
~ Thank you to Heidi Brickell for translating my english into te reo ~
I have been reflecting a lot on what Te Tiriti, and Waitangi Day, means to me, and to all of us. I am obviously aware of the current political discourse, and we have had many, lengthy discussions as a team about where exactly our lane is. Not just with regards to how we talk about Te Tiriti, but how we talk about society more broadly.
Fundamentally we see it as our job to bring joy. Through our clothes and through the way we interact with each other, and you all.
And also I’m aware that there are...decidedly less joyful things happening at the moment.
How do you bring joy, stay in your lane, and be real about what we are observing around us? And do you even look to us for what we think about the world? Or do you just want us for escape?
Honestly, that’s what we are trying to figure out. As always I love hearing from you; really it’s you that I serve.
What I do know is that we must celebrate what we see to be hopeful, and we can use our platform to offer ideas for what the future could be. This is the beauty of our The Best Is Yet To Come series. The idea is to amplify people who work in (or think about) areas that are important to our community and, as the series name implies, speak to “this is where we are now, and this is where I hope and think we can be”.
In the coming months (years?) we will publish pieces that respond to the question: We will mark 200 years since the signing of Te Tiriti in 2040. Who, as a community, do we want to be?
The first will be in the next week(ish), written by Waiora Te Moni, following her time in Waitangi this weekend.
Submissions, as always, are open.
With love,
Em
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