Pakeha Waitangi Group

Press, 28 December 1985, Page 23

Pakeha Waitangi Group

PA Hamilton A group of pakeha people has been formed in Hamilton to promote pakeha understanding of issues arising from the Treaty of Waitangi. During the lead-up to Waitangi Day observance on February 6, the Pakeha Waitangi Group plans to spread information about treaty matters through library displays, leaflets, a

radio talkback, and other news media coverage. “Pakeha people must take responsibility for Maori grievancces relating to the treaty,” a press release from the group said. The group said it believed many problems now facing the Maori people such as health, unemployment, imprisonment, and education had arisen because the treaty’s guarantee of Maori

rights was not honoured. “Many pakehas do not yet understand the links between these problems and the treaty,” it said. “Nor do they understand how the pakehas are involved in these injustices. “We believe it involves us because pakeha representatives were co-signatories of the treaty and because we as pakehas have benefited from the breaking of our treaty obligations.”