If a solution for Māori wellbeing is needed it’s about values not the Treaty

The wellbeing of all New Zealanders should be a concern for all New Zealanders. Today I want to speak to the Treaty and both its relevance and rarely stated irrelevance to Māori wellbeing.

Once understood, I think nearly all will see the point and agree. Initially some might misunderstand and think I’m demeaning the Treaty / Te Tiriti. For clarity, I’m not.

As a nation we care about our Māori – as also all non-Māori. Like a parent who cares for all of their children, we want all who grow in our nation to thrive. This is one reason we’ve honoured and supported Treaty things as a nation – and as churches. Regarding our Māori, we’d love to see statistics that reveal troubles (as generalisations) – which we’re told about continuously by our Government and Media – turned around, because ‘they are us’. Consider crime rates, imprisonment, suicide, truancy, substance abuse – and more.

But what help is actually needed – and by whom?

Does the Treaty have anything to do with these problems – or might the solution actually be in something else entirely? 

It’s an important question!

 

The decline in Māori wellbeing is recent

During the 19^th Century (in the 1800s), the numbers of Māori who were prisoners was very low. Usually about 3% of the total prison population. Early in the 20^th Century Māori made up 11% of our prisons, while by 1945 they made up 21%.

Jump half a century on, and by 2011 Māori were 51%. It’s a measure of social change amongst Māori as a subset of our  wider population. Why the change and what are we to do?

In response to the above, some might even say, “all this ‘honouring of the Treaty’ isn’t working!” There is validity to this!

I see two separate matters. Let’s unpack this.

 

What happened?

Firstly, prior to 1950 Māori were decidedly more Christian than non-Māori. Their church attendance statistics were higher. Their honesty and hard work was admirable. Their families were together. I talk to my elderly neighbour, and her dad was hardworking, with a large family, strong morals and a big vegetable garden to feed them all. He kept the family together and was honoured and respected by all.

The primary recognised factor is this decline through to the 1950s is probably urbanisation – which removed the wider whanau support structures from around Māori.

But more was going on than that.

(Secondly) …something else happened beyond the 1950s that I suggest was significant – even while a religious prejudice within our society, including amongst many Māori tries to deny.

There was a society-wide breakdown in our families. This wasn’t just amongst Māori – but for reasons I don’t fully understand it was disproportionately so!

The desire for unaccountable sex (which feels good at the time – but which also undermines the stability and security of families, affecting all areas of wellbeing) led to a society-wide ‘distaste’ for Christianity. We blamed the guilt we felt for our actions on the faith that told us our actions were morally wrong. The Christian faith has been increasingly despised and demeaned in our society since then – and with this the primary protective structure for Marriage was undermined.

On all levels, we have become worse off.

But for Māori, the family breakdown was greater.

To note a tragic irony – as we honoured Te Tiriti, restoring mana-whenua and mana-Māori, Māori wellbeing declined rather than improved.

It would seem, therefore, that if our desire is to help Māori, honouring Te Tiriti is actually a very small part of the picture!

 

Regarding Marriage

General marriage rates fell a lot in New Zealand the past 70 years.

This decline is principally connected to our nation’s rejection of the Christian faith – from a desire for unaccountable sex. Public media picked up on the theme, and has fed it ever since. Both Government and public media are almost ‘despising’ of Marriage today – even leaving reference to it out of statistics, as if it were insignificant to societal wellbeing.

The breakdown of marriage (which is at the centre of family structure) is directly connected to an increase in ill-health in multiple areas in practically all data. We don’t hear about this much these days only because it’s  unfashionable to talk about. Those doing the surveys are either failing to ask necessary questions, or are now choosing not to show us the connection between marriage and wellbeing. Without question, however, the connection exists!

When a marriage ends,

• the kids are less happy and less secure.
• There is more truancy,
• lower educational outcomes,
• lower income throughout life
• and more crime.
• There are then more drug and alcohol problems.
• There is certainly more depression,
• and more anxiety
• and more suicide.
• There are less stable future relationships – and so the cycle repeats.
• There are also worse health outcomes
• and therefore also decreased longevity in life.

All of these things are directly connected in the data to family-of-origin dynamics!

Any attempt to fix one of these problems that doesn’t identify and address the root connection to family structure is flawed at the most fundamental level.

Today about 45% of all New Zealanders over age 15 are married. In 1976 that was 66% – to note the trend. However, amongst Māori, I’ve heard it said the numbers are as low as 15% – while in the 1950s Māori marriage rates weren’t very much different to the rest of the population – just like prison rates. A correlation? Statistics validate the suggestion!

By the way, I couldn’t give you a statistic regarding current Māori marriage rates because I couldn’t find the data. I don’t think this this accidental. I suspect it’s because the new ‘official narrative’ says marriage is irrelevant to Māori.

I don’t accept that for a moment! The idea that two people being committed to each other creates a stable environment for children and others has nothing to do with race  and everything to do with human psychology! We live in very strange times!

The point: The key to wellbeing isn’t in cultural restoration – as valuable as that might be.

The key to wellbeing is in our values!

 

So, has our honouring of the treaty actually helped Māori then? 

This is a provocative question.

Firstly, this is the wrong question to ask – because honouring Te Tiriti was the right thing to do. Whether it helped or not isn’t overly relevant – even though wisdom is needed because a pursuit of a redress of past wrongs that has no end will literally destroy our nation. (This is not different to how myself seeking a redress of wrongs from those who hurt me as a child, if it has no end, would unavoidably wreck those relationships).

But – to address it, here are some ‘pros’ and ‘cons’ for Māori that I see coming from our honouring of Te Tiriti.

>> What bad might our pursuit of honouring Te Tiriti have inadvertently achieved?

At a first level, while honouring the Treaty is the right thing to have done – doing so will have disadvantaged Māori wherever this enhanced or fed into a victim mentality.

When we fall for the lie that we are a victim we unwisely place our hope for our future in the someone else’s hands. It’s a silly thing to do – while easy to do when we feel hurt. Everyone who has ever been hurt understands this.

The assumption that someone else somehow owes us something rarely improves our lives. In truth, it often leads to our demise.

Examples are easy to find – because this isn’t a matter of race. Many of us have suffered injustices, or are disadvantaged in some way.

• No amount of money can fix a problem that is in our heads and hearts.
• Concurrently, with healthy thinking, the environment around a person doesn’t have to be within them. (People in prison can feel free – while people who are ‘free’ can feel as-if imprisoned).

To illustrate, I have things in my own life in mind here for which I could play the ‘victim’ card.

To consider the process, if I choose to replay injustices in my mind, I can bring the emotions connected with them back to life. I can revive them. I believe I could also ‘create’ them – which is quite a statement. While remembering past injuries is sometimes helpful to healing it is (a) not necessary for healing, and (b) sometimes actually unhealthy!

I have long-known that if I ever fell for the ‘victim mentality trap’ I’d be condemning myself to long-term mental ill-health.  No amount of pointing the finger, or stating of blame, or of considering the detrimental effects I suffer because of things that happened, or  of asking for apologies even if I were then ‘lucky’ enough them to be forthcoming… …would EVER heal the heart!

Hurts like these are healed through the power of forgiveness alone!

For some, the Treaty process has therefore revived past hurts – sometimes not even experienced. The cause (sometimes of our ancestors generations ago) feels righteous – and sometimes that is also true! However, the dangers of this are tangible and real!

I think we all appreciate the challenge. Some of our immigrants appreciate it the best – noting some are first-generation victims of injustice, having literally lost homes, finances, land, heritage and families. How are they to find spiritual, mental and emotional health – to empower health in all areas of life?

 

> For our second question: What good did our pursuit of honouring Te Tiriti achieve?

Our honouring of Te Tiriti has achieved a lot of good!

And it was the right thing to do!

Together we’ve created an environment within which – today – Māori can feel affirmed and valued in their heritage as never before (since approx. 1860 – as a flexible time-marker).

Our choice to generally value things-Māori has certainly contributed to a restoration of mana-Māori (the pride a person can feel in being Māori). This was needed – because things-Māori really were generally despised and/or disregarded. That was wrong and correcting it is good!

The financial settlements related to Te Tiriti have also put money in the hands of Māori – restoring a small part of what was taken, while also positioning them to do things that could make a difference for their future. This is called ‘mana whenua’ – the mana connected to the land (or other assets). This firstly is about aiding a healing of hearts. An apology was needed – and was given, with money in hand as a demonstration that the heart behind the apology was sincere. The clock cannot be wound back. What was taken cannot ever be restored. In normal, or healthy, scenarios – this apology and ‘token of restoration’ should make a difference (while the choice to forgive and be free of it always rests with the individual – as with the resolving of any past wrong).

The money given (secondly) serves to put choices in the hands of Māori – which is important and needed in view of not only assets lost, but also the esteem, confidence and opportunity associated with it. As I’ve discussed elsewhere in prior years, many Iwi are doing very well with their investments. As a result there is economic help and related benefits available to Māori in many Iwi, the likes of which the rest of us will never get. And this is only set to increase.

There is nothing unfair in this  – so it is noted. This is no different to the way some moderately wealthy families have family trusts from which family members can receive financial help – like for education.

The mana given to being Māori has continued to grow also – with Government endorsement, to the point where Māori are now at a considerable advantage over non-Māori with regard to education and employment opportunities. I can think of many examples. Were I part Māori I can think of a number of things in my life that would be different and easier. The playing field isn’t even – but that’s not all bad.

In summary of this sub-point: Our honouring of the Treaty has been an act of justice, honouring to God, and loving toward our Māori people. It has been an immense good – but it is not the solution for Māori wellbeing!

 

What then about some solutions?

If a restoration is needed for Māori – what might bring it?

> Money?

There’s clear evidence already that money isn’t going to fix anyone’s social woes.

 

> Power?

As Lord Acton (and then Spider Man) said, “Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

Where power is given – watch the in-fighting, to have that power, begin!

If there isn’t a moral compass in a person with power – which can only come in a fixed way from their spiritual convictions (believing there is a God), what is there to stop a person taking a bribe behind a closed door?

Power progressively becomes corrupted in all human systems – only unless there is an opposite force (like the Christian faith) fuelling selflessness and self-sacrifice as the foundational values of the leader!

So, the giving of power isn’t the solution either – even though it might sometimes be justified on other merits.

> Pre-European spiritualities?

If you go far enough back in history, my ancestors in the Shetland Islands, Ireland, Liverpool and Switzerland were all pagan-god-worshipping feudal (fighting) tribalists. To make a point, there is nothing hugely unique in the violence, superstitions and warring of pre-European Māori society that isn’t in the ancestry of us all somewhere!

(Some of my Celtic ancestors were more committed to human sacrifices to the gods they feared than Māori ever were!)

…But then a North African religion called Christianity came to my ancestors. Of course, it was a Middle Eastern religion first. It was Alcuin who took it to the Germanic Goths – with the ‘plunderers becoming peacemakers’ as a result. The Swiss and Germans have a common ancestry – so I’m guessing that’s when my ancestors on that side turned from some of their more bloodthirsty ways. It will have been traders who took it first to England in the first Century – while ‘Saint Patrick’ of England is credited with taking it to his prior slave owners in Ireland in the fifth century. And it was probably in connection with the influence or times of King Alfred the Great that this faith was embraced at an almost ‘cultural’ level – including amongst the tribes of my ancestors in the Liverpool regions and further afield in the Shetland Islands.

The point is simple. Culture isn’t static or unchanging as if it should be considered sacred and preserved with no changes… …and not all cultural practices are good!

• Human sacrifice, for example, isn’t good.
• Taking women as ‘prizes’ from war, to be used for sex, isn’t good.
• Superstitions, including violence, death and various emotionally ‘abusive’ dynamics aren’t good (I suggest).
• We should not therefore blindly assume that all aspects of our ancestor’s cultures were good!

It is also worth considering why our various ancestors then decided to embrace the idea of (a) a Creator God over all things who is (b) good (and therefore just) while also being (c) loving and humble (so he can be known)?

• This is a unique idea of ‘God’!
• What if our ancestors weren’t just gullible natives of their various lands – and had good reason to do so? What if they were wise rather than the fools we sometimes assume them to be when we dismiss or write-off things that they intentionally chose?

If we look at the history, these new beliefs led to peace replacing war, a culture of giving replacing vengeance and human sacrifice and other tortuous practices, loving replacing our battles for power – and much more – and I’m only talking about my own ancestors thus far.

It was in every way attractive!

Without question, my own ancestors were NOT better off prior to the arrival of news about Jesus. The very word ‘gospel’, in fact, means ‘good news’!

To consider the contrast, the various battles for power across Europe were probably not overly good for my ancestors.  There is both good and bad in all of our histories – and wisdom is needed to discern one thing from another.

 

What then is the way forward?

If the pursuit of money, power and ancient spiritualities isn’t the way forward, what is?

Here is what I suggest.

#1. GOD

I believe this reality can’t be avoided.

We cannot deny the spiritual.

To try to bring freedom and wellbeing to people with no regard for their Creator is – I suggest – short-sighted.

• Firstly, most of our ancestors (whether her or in a multiplicity of places in Europe) esteemed this faith of their own accord, with remarkable and positive outcomes to follow.
• The logic is also still clear and simple: There are things around us and within us that are more complex than anything we could create – let alone imagine! The evidence of design is overwhelming!
  • We’re not therefore talking about a god who is the tree or forrest.
  • We’re talking about a being that is smart enough and powerful enough  to MAKE the tree and the forrest!
  • (He is the God of the forrest and trees – who made them!)

We live in a society today that generally refuses to accept the very simple logic of a Creation.

It is, however ,unhelpful to try to say that ‘god’ is something other than what he actually is.

• Religious truth isn’t a matter of opinion or culture. It is a matter of truth! What is true has no regard for gender or skin colour, wealth, weight, height, intellect or personality type. It is like gravity, and it applies to us all!
• When we align ourselves to what is true – everything works better!

It also follows that, if a God did indeed create, the God who is over Iran, Brazil and Uganda is the same God who is over New Zealand. I suggest that our wider New Zealand culture needs to somehow reconcile with this truth. Even if our races are different, the origins of our existence, and the source of our breath, are one and the same!

First things come before second things.

Nothing is more important than this.

 

#2. MARRIAGE – THE IDEA OF BINDING COMMITMENT

From there I would begin to discuss the importance of family, while knowing that changes in values do take time. If we are actually going to help people, family dysfunction is at the root of most social ills.

Were my wider family to value our Irish and Swiss heritage – learning those languages might have some value, but would do nothing for the hurt in my heart from a challenged upbringing.

While our racial cultures have some value, family culture is the point here. This is about the universal nature of human relationships, not race. This is about values and principles that are true, as evidenced by what  ACTUALLY HAPPENS in the REAL world WHEN TRIED.

I would suggest that an esteeming a culture of marriage (a truly committed relationship made before God) changes things!

• Strong marriages make for strong homes.
• There is a saying, ‘As the family goes, so goes the nation.’ (Source unknown)
• Strong homes are where the nieces and nephews go when there are troubles in their homes – and where the children and grandchildren find safety and security.
• Strong homes also create a family culture of building strong homes. (The children of parents who stay married are far more likely to marry – and stay married.)

It is very difficult for one person – alone – to build that kind of a home, bringing security to many. (The solo parents and grandparents who do, each deserve an award!)

• …Though there will be exceptions. Imagine two sisters who, as adults, are committed to each other and their wider family. Together they then create a safe environment for their nieces and nephews.

But if we’re looking for solutions to improve wellbeing – ‘God’ and ‘Marriage’ are like a fence at the top of a cliff. These can save people from a lifetime of troubles – while bringing blessing to many.

 

#3. WE THEN BUILD A CULTURE OF TAKING RESPONSIBILITY FOR OUR PROBLEMS – RATHER THAN POINTING THE FINGER

The third think I’d suggest is that we begin to counter any culture or pattern of of looking to the Government (or others) as the solution to our problems.

What many don’t perceive is that, every time we do this, the Government get bigger and more powerful. Every time the Government gets bigger, we the people get smaller.

The can lead to a tipping point in culture. There are numerous examples in history. (‘Socialism’ is ‘Communism-lite’. We are ‘ruled by vote’ until Governments have enough power to ‘rule without need of our votes’ – or ownership of media and education, so they can control the flow of information, which informs our vote).

The problem is in the seduction of the ‘victim mentality’ – expecting a Government to help. Being given money or sympathy feels good. Being given power feels even better. Having some we feel sure this is just – and that we deserve more. IT IS A TRAP THAT SOME ARE NOW FALLING INTO!

The Greek philosopher Plato (428-348BC) wrote about this. In summary, “The Government gives us money until it runs out of money – so they find new ways to take the ‘rich people’s’ money. When they run out of money there is no money – and everything  falls over!” Aka – then true suffering begins!

So, the idea of an expanding Government that ‘cares for the people’ – no matter how charitable or good it seems at the time – is the pathway toward disaster!

Very few perceive this while standing for their rights, while receiving payouts and power. However, the history books show us where this leads, and the outcomes are TERRIBLE!

This is why a foundational principle of wellbeing is that we take responsibility for our own lives and families and people, and our own problems. This includes our own incomes – and finding work, establishing basic security. This includes addressing our own family problems or dysfunction – teaching values, pursuing paths of healing, working to establish new patterns of behaviour. (This is all about VALUES).

Put differently, we never play the victim card.

This value-system needs MILITANT promotion in our nation!

An unexpected outcome is that we then stand to again stand for justice – but now do so from an entirely different disposition. We address the injustice from a place of freedom and health – rather than from hurt or bitterness, or as if our value were in any way going to be affected by the other person’s response.

The same principles apply in families – which I have plenty of experience in,

As positive examples, I think of kaumatua who have led claims on behalf of their Iwi to the Waitangi Tribunal who are genuinely full of grace and peace – while seeing the young people in those Iwi who are becoming filled with bitterness and a desire for vindication. What is the solution? Leadership is needed!

 

CONCLUSION: So, as Christians – how can we help?

While we honour Te Tiriti, it is our faith and values that will bless Māori – like all people, more than anything else we carry.

 

We must know and tell our story!

We must engage in sensible conversations with people who are in positions of power.

We must engage wisely with public media, education and Government – to help to bring about a re-awakening of knowledge and interest in our history – both bicultural and values (How did we become one of the most free, prosperous, equality-based and charitable actions on the planet, as also in all human history? There is a story here to know and tell!).

1. A recognition of the Creator God is a foundation.

2. Family is next. If families aren’t protected through necessary VALUES and PRINCIPLES like commitment – people will get hurt!

3. Personal responsibility is then a life lesson, applicable to all. Māori are now advantaged by way of access to education and employment. Their culture is being esteemed (Mana-Māori restored). Local benefits via Iwi and hapu are also growing due to settlements, and the resulting growth of the Māori economy. Let’s esteem things-Māori, reinforcing this value continuously – knowing that changes in mindset take time.

But more than all of this – let’s know and tell the stories.

I say it again – we need to know and tell OUR stories. They are stories of faith – and of hope – and they will bring life!

This is a recipe for health in a society!

> Dear God, we ask that the above vision of a spiritual peace and reconciliation be understood and applied by courageous and visionary leaders in our nation – bringing healing to all. Amen.

DAVE MANN. Dave is a networker and creative communicator with a vision to see an understanding of the Christian faith continuing and also being valued in the public square in Aotearoa-New Zealand. He has innovated numerous conversational resources for churches, and has coordinated various national nationwide multimedia Easter efforts purposed to open up conversations between church and non-church people about the Christian faith and its significance to our nation’s history and values. Dave is the Producer of the ‘Chronicles of Paki’ illustrated NZ history series created for educational purposes, and the author of various other books and booklets including “Because we care”, “That Leaders might last” and “The Elephant in the Room”. Married to Heather, they have four boys and reside in Tauranga, New Zealand.