A settlement on Rekohu

It is marvellous to see that Moriori have reached a Treaty settlement that will compensate them for the theft of their land by the Crown in the 1870s, the failure of successive governments to free them from the slavery inflicted by Ngati Mutunga and Ngati Tama after the 1835 invasion, and the misleading way they were presented for many decades in the education system and official documents. There are still many Pakeha New Zealanders who believe Moriori are an extinct people; the settlement will no doubt come as news to them!

A recent newsletter of the Hokotehi Trust, which represented Moriori in negotiations with the Crown, reveals that the descendants of the Ngati Mutunga invaders still refuse to recognise Moriori as the indigenous people of the Chathams (or Rekohu, as Moriori call the islands). 

I blogged about some of the background to the Moriori Treaty claim here.