The following whakataukī summarises the whole notion and idea of Māori Data Sovereignty and the importance that Māori Data Sovereignty is a Te Tiriti right not just for Iwi, but for all of Māori society and individuals as noted in WAI 2522.
The original intention of the whakataukī was not about Māori Data Sovereignty as we know it today, but as with any good whakataukī, it can be adapted to meet evolving societal issues.
A whakataukī is “A proverbial or particularly memorable and significant saying, aphorism or slogan, and the use of composition of such is a figure of speech. They are a primary means of conveying important social, cultural, legal and political principles and information”*.
The author of the following whakataukī was a kaumātua Waho Tibble (Ngati Porou) in his submission number 58 to the Hui Taumata in1984. Moe mai rā e pā!
Whakahokia mai te mana o te Iwi ki te Iwi, o te hapū ki te hapū, o te whānau ki te whānau, o te tangata ki tōna rau kotahi.”
Return the authority of the tribes to the tribes, of the sub tribes to the sub tribes, of the families to the families, of the individuals to the individuals, representing, as they do, the generations of the past and present.
Ngā mihi to Te Atawhai for sharing this taonga.
* Te Mātāpunenga: A Compendium of References to the Concepts and Institutions of Māori Customary Law. Richard Benton, Alex Frame and Paul Meredith (Eds) (2013)
Leave a Reply