DAY 8: ANOTHER BUSY DAY!

All indigenous rights issues in NZ relate back to the original Waitangi Treaty that was signed in 1840 between the British crown and the Maori. It guaranteed that Maori would retain possession of their lands and their governance systems over them, while at the same time accepting the sovereignty of the British crown. Of course, things don't always work out the way they should and the Maori lost much of their territory to settlers over the next century.

In 1975, the NZ government created the Waitangi Tribunal to investigate Maori claims that the principles of the Treaty had not been kept. Since then, it has received about 1900 claims, and has made recommendations to the government on about 500 of them.

During our visit, we were given a presentation about the history and purpose of the Tribunal by one of its judges and several staff people.We then showed them one of the segments of the Staking the Claim DVD, which is part of the new land claims curriculum being introduced into the Nunavut high schools this coming Fall. This was followed by a question and answer session and a cultural performance.Our visit ended with an exchange of gifts, with Nancy presenting our gifts to Tipene Chrisp, the Acting Director of the Tribunal

CANADIAN HIGH COMMISSION
From the Tribunal offices, we went back to the High Commission, where we screened Staking the Claim again, put on a short performance, and then had a luncheon where we mingled with invited guests. It was a successful event for the High Commission.
JUSTICE JOSEPH WILLIAMS
Our final stop of the day proved to one of the most memorable: it was a visit to the NZ High Court (like Canada's Supreme Court) where we visited with Justice Joseph Williams. He had been the head of the Waitangi Tribunal, then a judge in the Maori Land Court (which deals with all matters relating to Maori lands), and now he is one of the judges in NZ's highest court — pretty impressive for a man in his mid-40s. Even more impressive, however, was his down-to-earth manner, and even though it was the end of the work day, he engaged the students in conversation about law, language and culture for an hour. He was a very inspriting and impressive individual.