Waitangi Day today, the perfect time to talk about our Ngāti Hinerangi Treaty of Waitangi Settlement. For the past four years, we’ve been working with the New Zealand Government to negotiate a settlement package to help make up for the injustices we, and the generations before us, have suffered at the hands of the Crown. It hasn’t been pretty. We lost land, we lost homes, many of us lost our language and identity. The statistics are alarming when we look at how Māori compare to non-Māori in various aspects of life – education, health, employment, home-ownership and prison. We’ve negotiated what we believe is a good package and it’s now up to you – our whānau – to vote on whether you agree or not. We have just over 1000 registered members and we look to gain a number of culturally significant properties, commercially viable properties that will help us build our assets as well as $8.1 million. Managed in the right way, this will go a long way in helping us bridge those gaps and strengthen our iwi again. To see the amazing film about the importance of our settlement, click here.