Ngati Paoa confirms it will sign its iwi specific Deed of Settlement on 20th of March with the Crown. The signing follows approval by 91.6 % of Iwi members who voted for the negotiated settlement package in March 2020. The settlement package was initialled by iwi in 2017.
The Deed of Settlement includes an Historic Account, Crown Acknowledgements of how and when it breached Te Tiriti, and the Crown’s Apology. It includes the return of culturally significant lands, and financial redress of $23.5 million.
Ngāti Pāoa Iwi Trust Board Chairman, Glen Tupuhi said, ”This has been a long and arduous journey for Ngāti Paoa that we are not yet at the end of, however this signing draws a line in the sand with the Crown and enables us to start rebuilding our estate, and our cultural and economic legacy”. “We still have other parts of our settlement we are working through, but this is a defining moment in our history.”
The signing of the Deed of Settlement brings an end to previous governance and management arrangements and the negotiation of the claim. Ngati Paoa acknowledges the former Board and Chair Gary Thompson, negotiators Hauaru Rawiri and Morehu Wilson, CEO Haydn Solomon and key commercial advisor Daniel Karehana whose commercial acumen was invaluable in maximising the Ngati Paoa package. “Ngati Paoa is deeply grateful to all those that got us to this point, it is now for us to heal the wounds of this process and move forward together”
By agreement of the new Board, all existing contracts will end next month following the signing. Chairman Glen Tupuhi says “The signing is a natural end point and enables the new Board to put in place management arrangements that are appropriate for growing and protecting our settlement into the future” Mr Tupuhi said, “our new trustee body is committed to operating as a united team. We have a mandate from our people and that remains our focus to honour the trust they have placed in us to work together”.
Ngāti Pāoa Iwi Trust will sign the Deed of Settlement with the Crown on March 20th at Wharekawa Marae.
