What do you want out of the claims?

If we took a slice through Te Ao Mārama from a human perspective prior to the colonisation process, it could be described as follows:

Ngāti Hikairo was an interconnected whole made up of whānau, hapū and iwi. In turn, the construct of whānau, hapū and iwi was interconnected with wider connections to other parts of the Tainui waka and beyond. It was also connected with other parts of Te Ao Mārama within a Ngāti Hikairo perspective on the natural world, Te Ao Māori.

The Hikairo claims process is focused on dealing with the fragmentation of the tribe as a result of colonisation.  Key aspects are: The removal of the cohesive interconnectedness of the culture described above The separation of whānau, hapū and iwi The growing gap at the centre of the picture which symbolises an emerging tribal invisibility that has been a consequence of negative Crown action over two centuries

The claims process needs to deal with the restoration of an integrated concept of self within a strengthened matrix of whānau, hapū and iwi. There are wider issues of reconnection that involve, through whakapapa, our need to restore our links with the natural world (via Hikairotanga). Kotahitanga on this broad scale is a kaupapa at the heart of claims management and post-settlement planning.

Our claims relate to loss and the need to recover.  In order for us to own a claims strategy for Ngāti Hikairo we believe it is important to start our thinking about the future with where we are right now.  We are all at different points on the knowledge continuum.  That’s not a problem; it is just that there will be a variety of different starting points.

The following are a series of words that may help unlock what is important to you right now as you look forward.  We would like to hear from you about your hopes and aspirations for the future in whatever terms are relevant to you.

• Remember, recall, recollect
• Reconnect, be reconnected
• Reconcile
• Recognise, be recognised
• Respect, be respected
• Reclaim, recover, redefine, reconstruct, rehabilitate, regenerate, revive, rekindle, refresh, refocus
• Rectify, recompense, repay
• Redevelop, restore, reintegrate, re-educate, realise

If we can get a sense of what you are hoping for, it will make a claims strategy uniquely ours and more importantly, relevant to our reality.

So send an email today to hikairoclaimsteam@gmail.com Put Moemoeā in the subject line and let us know what you think, using the words above as a prompt.

Send us several emails as you think of things that are important to you.  We will undertake to put it all together and reflect back to you, anonymously of course, over the coming months as we shape up our Hikairo claims strategy.