Read Dr Joe Te Rito’s full message in either te reo Māori or English below:

I te ahunga atu ki te Rā o Waitangi 2024, kua kite tātou e rua ngā hui nui o te ao Māori i tū. Ko te tuatahi, he mea karanga e Kīngi Tūheitia Pōtatau Te Wherowhero VII, ā, nuku atu i te 10,000 tāngata, Tangata Whenua mai, Tangata Tiriti mai i tau ki tōna marae i Ngāruawāhia. Ko te tuarua, he mea karanga i muri tata iho e te Hāhi Rātana, ā, manomano anō te hunga i tau ki te Pā o Rātana, i te wā hoki i pōwhiritia ai ō tātou rōpū tōrangapū ki runga ki te marae.

I tēnei tuhituhinga, i te rā o mua tonu o te Rā o Waitangi, ka whakamāramatia e au etahi o ā mātou mahi o Ako Aotearoa i te tau kua pahure, hei āta whakamōhio atu ki te hunga kaiako o te wāhanga kura tuatoru ngā kōrero mō Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

Ka aro tuatahi ake ki te akoranga ‘Te Tiriti o Waitangi - a Visual History’ mā te hunga Tangata Tiriti anake (ehara i te Māori, i te Tangata Whenua hoki). Harikoa ana mātou ki te hunga 528 i kuhu mai ki ā mātou akoranga e 39. Ko nga aromātai, he rawe rawa atu te nuinga. Me whakahīhī mātou ka tika i te mea mā te whakamōhio atu, ka mārama ngā kaiako.

Ka aro tuarua ake ki te rārangi kauhau-ā-ipurangi, arā, a 'Tū Mai Te Tiriti'. E rima ngā kauhau i whakahaeretia ai e etahi o ngā kaiārahi Māori mai i te wāhanga kura tuatoru. E 682 katoa ngā tāngata i kuhu mai mā te 'Zoom'. He rawe anō hoki te nuinga o ngā aromātai i taetae mai. He 91.7% o rātou i kī ai ‘he tino teitei ki te teitei te kounga.’ Me whakahīhī anō mātou, ka tika.

Nā wai rā, ka aro tuatoru ake ki te huringa o ngā kupu Māori ake o te Tiriti o Waitangi hei waiata mōteatea. E 30 tau au e wānanga ana ki a au anō me pēhea tōna takahuri hei waiata, ka oti nei. Ka mutu, ka āta whāngaitia ake ngā kupu me te rangi i te roanga o te rārangi kauhau e kōrerotia ake nei i runga nei. Ki te hiahia te tangata ki te ako i tēnei waiatatanga o Te Tiriti o Waitangi, anei te hononga ki te hopunga kei runga i te paetukutuku ā Ako Aotearoa.

Ko taku wero ki a koutou, kia ako i te waiata nei i te tau nei.

In the lead-up to Waitangi Day 2024 we have seen two major gatherings of Māoridom. The first was called by King Tūheitia Pōtatau Te Wherowhero VII in which over 10,000 people, Tangata Whenua and Tangata Tiriti, descended upon his marae at Ngāruawāhia. The other was called a few days after by the Hāhi Rātana in which thousands of people descended upon Rātana Pā during which time our political parties were welcomed onto the marae.

In this article, being published on the day before Waitangi Day, I describe some of the work we of Ako Aotearoa have undertaken in the last year to better inform educators in the tertiary sector about Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

I focus firstly on the ‘Te Tiriti o Waitangi - a Visual History’ course, which is offered only to Tangata Tiriti (non-Māori, or non-Tangata Whenua). We are really pleased that 528 people overall, attended the 39 courses we offered. The evaluation feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. We can be justifiably pleased as through education educators get to better understand.

I focus secondly on our online seminar series entitled ‘Tū Mai Te Tiriti’. Five seminars were delivered by Māori leaders from the tertiary sector. There was a total of 682 attendances via Zoom. Again, the evaluation feedback that was received by us was overwhelmingly positive. The global satisfaction rating was that 91.7% rated the seminars ‘very high to high quality.’ Again, we should be proud.

Finally, I focus on the conversion of the Māori language text of Te Tiriti o Waitangi to traditional sung poetry form. For 30 years I contemplated how to convert it to sung form and its now done. The lyrics and melody were gradually provided over the course of the seminar series mentioned above.

For anyone wishing to learn this sung version of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, below is the recording located on the website of Ako Aotearoa. My challenge to you all is to learn this waiata this year.