A large part of my work is reading claims people have made to the Waitangi Tribunal (claims by Maori about things the Crown has done that have harmed them in some way). There aren't really any rules about what a claim should look like so a claim could be anything from a half-page hand-written letter to a couple hundred page document produced by a lawyer.
Some claims are full of grammatical and spelling errors and some try to claim things that the Tribunal can't look into. One day last week as I read through a few such claims I found myself feeling frustrated and judgmental - who were these silly people trying to say this or making these errors. God pretty quickly told me off and reminded me that I have no idea who these people are or what their background is.
They may not know or fully understand the scope of the Tribunal's jurisdiction. Some of the spelling and grammatical errors may be simple typos. I know I made plenty of typos when writing essays and didn't always go back and spot them before handing them in. Some of the errors may be because they were never taught or have forgotten particular rules of grammar and spelling.
I can spot the things people try to claim that are outside the Tribunal's jurisdiction because I went to law school and have worked at the Tribunal for the last seven months. I can spot spelling and grammatical mistakes because I have had 20 years of education and have always been good at spelling and enjoyed learning rules of grammar (and had many opportunities to do so by studying languages). A lot of people, especially Maori, have very different backgrounds to me.
We've all heard the stories about how Maori children don't do as well at school as pakeha. I'm sure there are differing opinions as to the reasons why and what can be done about it. There is no denying that our education system is based on European models of education and that different cultures, even different people within the same culture learn differently. There are many claims to the Tribunal about education and the way the Crown has failed Maori through various educational practices and policies.
A discussion at lifegroup last week about the assumption held by many that Maori lived in peace before Pakeha arrived got me thinking more about the issue of education. I would like to see New Zealand history taught more in schools in social studies. Sure racism in New Zealand isn't as bad as it is in other countries but it is still there. How can we expect to do anything about it if we don't start teaching the next generation about our history? Schools need to teach children about how both Maori and Pakeha did things they shouldn't have and how they both did good things and worked together. Maybe we could cut out some of the WWI and WWII stuff and other less relevant topics from the curriculum to make room for our own history. Why does every social studies class need to watch Escape from Sobibor and Dances with Wolves? An added bonus of teaching less WWI and WWII could be a decrease in the idolisation of ANZAC day (that could be a whole other blog post and I won't get into it now).
Another thing that was frustrating me was the lack of understanding about the Tribunal and the impression I was getting from some claims that people think the Tribunal is like other courts, or, to be more accurate, what pop-culture tells us courts are like. Again this is something I can really only spot because of my legal background and experience at the Tribunal.
The Tribunal's jurisdiction and the way it operates are things that the majority of New Zealanders don't know much about, not just Maori claimants. The people who bring claims to the Tribunal probably know more about the Tribunal than most other New Zealanders. They know that they can bring a claim and generally know what they can claim about. They know that the Tribunal conducts hearings wherever the claimants are. Often they know about other claims to the Tribunal by other members of their hapu or iwi or about the same issue or piece of land. I'm frequently impressed by how much Maori tend to know about their whanau, hapu and iwi history and whakapapa (family connections). I wish I knew more about my family history.
Yesterday was the day in the New Zealand Anglican calendar when we celebrate the three branches of the Anglican church - Pakeha, Maori and Pacifica. Our sermon was about forgiveness and reconciliation - particularly relevant to my work and what I have been thinking about lately. In order for there to be true reconciliation between Maori and Pakeha there has to be understanding - an understanding of our shared history and an understanding of the work being done by the Waitangi Tribunal and the Treaty Settlements process to uncover the truth about our history and atone for past wrongs. True reconciliation between people also involves everyone involved understanding and accepting the forgiveness of Jesus. We can only forgive because He first forgave us. We can only fully love each other when we know the love God has for each of us.
