Te hāngaitanga ki ngā mātāpono o Te Tiriti o Waitangi

Alignment with te Tiriti o Waitangi principles

As a Crown agency, Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga Archives New Zealand — together with the Crown Response Unit — is committed to working in partnership with Māori.

We’re actively protecting information so the people it relates to can use it in the future. We’re doing this by:

• identifying all relevant information of value

• setting rules for how the information should be disposed of.

The design of the temporary protection mechanism — and the subsequent retention and disposal of records initiative — includes analysis of how they might:

• impact Māori survivors, iwi and hapū

• give effect to te Tiriti o Waitangi principles.

Improving awareness of opportunities to take part in decision-making

Identifying Treaty partners and individual Māori stakeholders — and working with them to understand what information is of value — enables participation in design. Participation is also enabled through wide public consultation, as required under the Public Records Act 2005.

The State can improve awareness of opportunities to participate in decision-making through good communication on design and effective engagement on implementation. This can enable Māori survivors, care-experienced people, whānau, iwi and hapū to be aware of decision-making about:

• what records should be protected for use by care-experienced people and whānau in the future

• which records the State should not retain

• how records can be used.

It can also empower them to participate in this decision-making, upholding their rights to be treated as partners under te Tiriti o Waitangi.

We might see more effort to uphold rights to identity, culture and community and rights to live as Māori if the retention and disposal of records review process reflects and raises awareness of:

• the intergenerational value of records

• Māori data governance, and

• collective information interests.

Protecting the right information means there’s:

• more opportunity to sustain or restore understanding of whakapapa (a person’s connections, journey and experiences), and

• more information to reconnect with whānau, iwi and hapū.

It also means whānau, iwi and hapū may be able to reclaim care-experienced people and begin to redress the harm done to communities through the removal of tamariki into the care and protection system over decades.

If people know more about how retention and disposal works in practice, they may be protected from unnecessary distress about what information is available. They may also feel more empowered.

People may feel reassured if they can hold organisations, including the State, to account by referring to the published definition of care records, and the rules around their retention and disposal.

Less likely to have the same negative records experiences

Being aware of — and contributing to — this work could mean care-experienced people and whānau have some reassurance that tamariki (children), rangatahi (youth) and whānau today are already less likely to have the same negative records experiences as in the past.

Knowing they have made a difference by speaking up about their experiences may help them feel empowered by contributing to others being:

• more protected from harm by being empowered and having enhanced mana and oranga through access to well-organised, full and accurate information

• more involved in recording about them and decision making about how their information is used and shared.

If existing information of value to whānau, hapū and iwi is preserved, this may support Treaty claim and settlements work for both Treaty partners.

In undertaking this work, the Crown is meeting good faith obligations in the following ways.

• Coordinating engagement and information-gathering with other existing Māori-Crown initiatives on information and data to demonstrate the Crown is honouring the approach to Māori-Crown engagement that has been agreed with the Data Iwi Leaders Group.

• Recognising the Crown remains accountable for resourcing the implementation of any work designed by survivors and for fulfilling its part in the partnership.

• Seeking to understand the meaning of key Māori concepts relevant to information and data and the needs and expectations of Māori.

• Seeking to elevate, enhance or contribute to existing work by Treaty partners. By doing this we can demonstrate the will to be a contributing partner, rather than perpetuate an extractive engagement relationship.