While the broad strokes of Te Tiriti o Waitangi are now widely acknowledged, many people do not know its contents and intent. Much of HERA’s forward programme of research involves achieving industry focused solutions – but a much-needed change is that it now needs to be reviewed through the lens of te ao Māori.

This is part of HERA’s commitment to acknowledge Te Tiriti o Waitangi and interfaces between Mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge) and industry to expand knowledge and practice more generally.  

An example of this is HERA’s Endeavour Fund four-year research project focused on transforming the construction sector in Aotearoa New Zealand using Construction 4.0 approaches.

The Mātauranga Māori research theme within it, aims to address the gap of knowledge that exists and build a uniquely Māori framework to address the challenges of Construction 4.0. This will create new knowledge domestically and will sit internationally as an example of indigenous knowledge being incorporated into sectoral transformation.

HERA acknowledges that for industry, this will be confronting for some. Challenging the status quo of ‘doing’ business requires courage, even more so when the way to do it means looking through a cultural lens that may be unfamiliar.

However, there are significant changes occurring in New Zealand that indicate HERA needs to focus on this, as does business. This includes from a government perspective, the development of the Vision Mātauranga strategy of MBIE; development of the Te Ara Paerangi Future Pathways White Paper on the future of the research, science and innovation system imbedding Te Tiriti as one of four key focus areas; the revisions to the Education Act that now require honouring of Te Tiriti; and changes to government procurement rules that call for business to consider how to create opportunities for Māori.

As industry faces skills gaps and labour shortages, attracting the Māori workforce will be significant for them – particularly in attracting current rangatahi (youth), given by 2038 the Māori population aged 15-64 is expected to increase by 36% (around 136,000 people).

HERA’s work is heavily informed by the insights and guidance of experts, and we recently spoke to Timoti Harris, Managing Director at Empowering Change, about the importance of honouring Te Tiriti.

Timoti is on a mission to bring about the transformation of people and organisations by unpacking the ins and outs of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and its implications in the workplace. Here we share an interview excerpt from the latest Stirring The Pot podcast.

Timoti Harris: “Te Tiriti o Waitangi has always fascinated me because throughout all my different jobs, I’ve realised that few of us know much about the Treaty. We call it Te Tiriti o Waitangi as opposed to the Treaty of Waitangi because that reminds us that they’re two documents written in two languages that say some different things.

“When we are talking with people, I often find they have quite strong attitudes around the Treaty, including its worth and relevance to our country. I worry because when I ask people what the words of the Treaty said or about the Treaty, my experience normally is that most of us simply don’t know.

“As an educator, I wonder why that is. Perhaps the reason is because we’ve never been taught our history. For 182 years, except for a very small group of senior students who might do New Zealand history, few in our country have learned about it. There’s a danger in that for a lot of us. We hold opinions about something, yet we don’t know what it said.

“As a personal opinion, we are all citizens of Aotearoa New Zealand, therefore we all are connected through the Treaty. As a recently retired Secondary School principal I like going to places in our country, particularly buildings, and just sitting there.

“Taking time to listen and I ask myself, can I hear anything in this building – or this room, or this meeting – that is from a Māori world? I look around the building. What do I see on the walls here which tells me I’m in Aotearoa New Zealand?

I’ve always asked that about all our spaces for learning. As a Tumuaki (Principal), I would often visit a classroom, sit and close my eyes and listen for five minutes, then ask, could I guarantee I’m in a learning space in Aotearoa? If I’m hearing kupu Māori (Māori words) being used – greetings, correct pronunciations, anything like that – I go, this is definitely not Sydney, this is in Aotearoa New Zealand. I would also take a look at what’s on the walls and ask the same thing. Is this a learning space, appropriate and inclusive, honouring Matauranga Māori in this country?

“It’s the same for me in industry. People often share their feelings they had when they first arrive at Auckland International Airport in Mangere, walking down those corridors, hearing the tui, seeing the whakairo (carvings), and hearing waiata play.

“For many of us, these are familiar of our land. This is Aotearoa, we’re home, we’re back in our unique place.

“For workplaces and spaces, I ask what, what do we do every day in a workplace that shows that we are active Treaty partners? What is our pronunciation like? How do we use greetings? What is on our walls? What sort of art? What greetings and in what languages do we record on the letters we write? Do we include some of the Māori world, Te Ao Māori, in whatever we are doing? The Māori world is a significant world of Aotearoa.

“Many of us have experienced that warm feeling when we are walking down a street in some far-off country and see objects like pounamu being worn round a person’s neck, see a design from the Māori world on a garment being worn or even hear a waiata, we immediately think, “Hey, that’s from home.” It’s distinctive, uniquely of Aotearoa New Zealand. The Treaty said that all such taonga would be nurtured and looked after, would not be destroyed.

“It is a patai (question) for every company, school or organisation – where is the Māori world visible here and if it is, who did I ask about using it and have I got all the information I need to use it appropriately?

“It’s not saying a Māori world is better, but equally so, it is saying that it’s not less and must never be seen as being less which historically may have been the case in many facets on New Zealand life.

“We’ve got supermarkets and shopping centres now that have big signs on their walls in Te Reo Māori – how exciting and awesome. It’s just normalising the use of Te Reo Māori. It’s a bit ironic, to be in a process of normalising our nation’s first language, indeed our nation’s first official language at that.

“The bottom line is the Māori world was here first. If the Māori language and tikanga, Taahuhu Kōrero (histories), along with the essence and knowledge from and of the Māori world disappeared from Aotearoa, there’s not one other place on Earth where it exists, then it would be gone forever.

“Every other culture including all other languages represented within Aotearoa New Zealand today, remain alive and strong in practice somewhere else on this planet, it has another home. My commitment is simple, both as a citizen and educator, allow Te Tiriti/The Treaty, through its principles to live and be lived; let its full intent be realised for us all.”

To hear the full interview, visit https://www.hera.org.nz/podcast/. If you are interested in attending Te Tiriti o Waitangi workshops facilitated by Timoti in partnership with HERA get in touch with HERA’s Mātauranga Māori Project Lead, Kim Nugent via email kim.nugent@hera.org.nz. This is a great opportunity to understand how Te Tiriti relates to industry and workplaces and how it can help improve credentials as a strong cultural partner in business.