Dr Chris Jansen sets out on foot to re-engage with the Ngāi Tahu cultural narrative in Canterbury.

Recently I participated in an excellent workshop called The Treaty, Ngāi Tahu Claim and Kemp’s Deed run by Lynne Harata Te Aika and Nicole Manawatu-Brennan from Tuāhiwi Education, a consultancy that is connected to the Ngāi Tahu rūnaka; Ngāi Tūāhuriri.

The workshop took an in-depth look into the last seven generations of Ngāi Tahu history from the eight major land purchases between 1844–1864, through to the breach of the conditions of these agreements soon afterwards; and on to the tireless work from a wide range of people to collect evidence and build a legal case to eventually submitting the Ngāi Tahu claim to the Waitangi Tribunal in 1986, over 100 years later! In 1997 the Ngāi Tahu Deed of Settlement was signed and in 1998 Prime Minister Jenny Shipley delivered an apology on behalf of the Crown to Ngāi Tahu.

Lynne and Nicole were able to share the experiences of both their iwi and their own whānau through this time and I found it both disturbing and motivating to hear the impact of this blatantly racist and destructive colonisation process they were fighting. I highly recommend the workshop and its pre-requisite Workshop 1: Getting to Know Us as a way of understanding mana whenua aspirations in our region and exploring how best to support these aspirations in all of our mahi.

We spent the last 90 minutes of the day exploring inner-city Ōtautahi Christchurch starting at what is now known as Victoria Square – which was originally known as Te Turanga Hokohoko – the central market place where Māori rangatira Tautahi and his people shared trade with early settlers (where the name of Ōtautahi comes from).

From there we followed the Ngāi Tahu Cultural narrative walk along the Ōtākaro Avon River past Te Pae, the Convention Centre on to the Bridge of Remembrance and the brand-new Ngākau Aroha wooden heart-shaped carving. We then explored the cultural narrative built into the architecture of Te Omeka (the Justice & Emergency Services Precinct) and finally at Tūranga (the public library).

It was fabulous to hear the rich stories of this area that preceded European arrival, and to see them etched permanently into the built environment throughout the central city. This work has been undertaken by another Ngāi-connected entity called Matapopore, a charitable trust tasked with ‘making Ngāi Tūāhuriri and Ngāi Tahu values and  stories more visible within this new emerging city’.

The cultural walk is also self-directed and written, and audio resources can be accessed online. Again, I would highly recommend both of these learning experiences for any citizen of Aotearoa, and Ōtautahi in particular as a way of beginning to understand our shared history, enabling us to step proactively together into the giving effect – the original intent of Te Tiriti o Waitangi.