Nicole Hayward is a descendant of Ngāti Maniapoto iwi, and is providing direction within Predator Free 2050 Limited to help us better understand the role of Te Tiriti o Waitangi in New Zealand and how we can contribute to it as a living agreement between mana whenua and the Crown. She shares her reflections on our progress.

Our whānau here at Predator Free 2050 Limited have commenced our Tiriti o Waitangi journey, to ensure that Te Tiriti o Waitangi and its principles are deeply embedded into our organisational values, and become our fundamental way of operating.

At a recent Tiriti o Waitangi wānanga, we recognised that to succeed at honouring Te Tiriti o Waitangi as an organisation, our staff and Board need to succeed at learning the significance, and holding a deep understanding, of te Tiriti and its principles.

This brings us to the next steppingstone of our journey – How can we best honour the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi in our individual job functions or job positions? We can do this by having the intention to create the whakaaro first, followed by connecting core Tiriti principles to our organisation.

Through participation, we will see our staff and our Board come together to Develop, Commit and Deliver our core principle values and outcomes. This is how our organisation honours our Tiriti partnerships, striving for strong, mana enhancing relationships shared with our Iwi, hapū, tangata whenua and mana whenua.

We believe the strength of our relationships is crucial to the kaupapa succeeding in the protection and restoration of our taonga species here in Aotearoa.

Additionally, I’ve personally found our learning to date has had such a positive effect on me, this is encouraging and uplifting as I see that our entire team are wholeheartedly on this journey together. We also continue to increase our understanding of mātauranga Māori and this is encouraged and welcomed throughout our organisation.

To aid the essential protection of our reo Māori, during the first Covid lockdown of 2020 our organisation committed to the use of te reo Māori me tikanga for all staff. I have had the pleasure of facilitating these learnings. Our staff have successfully learned pepeha, several waiata as well as karakia. It is with pride that we continue these regular sessions two years on, with great turn out from our enthusiastic staff.

Mihi | Acknowledgement

Ngā mihi maioha e Carel. We acknowledge Carel Smith of ARO Solutions for guiding us through each of our Tiriti o Waitangi wānanga. These were done so effortlessly yet well- structured and keeping our team engaged and wanting more. Couldn’t have asked for a better start to our journey. Look forward to working with you again e hoa.

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Te Wānanga Whakamātaki the Māori Biosecurity wānanga 28-30 July 2022