Update: All Māori Data Sovereignty posts have been combined and updated into a Compendium of Māori Data Sovereignty – https://www.taiuru.co.nz/compendium-of-maori-data-sovereignty/
Over the past four years there has been such a directed focus on Iwi rights with Data held by the Crown that the definition of Māori Data Sovereignty has neglected traditional and modern Māori societal hierarchy and inherited rights.
Another issue is that the term Māori Data Sovereignty has been modelled on Indigenous Data Sovereignty principles, despite Māori having different societal hierarchy and treaties such as He Whakaputanga, Te Tiriti and other significant instruments and legislation. This has created confusion with both Māori, government, and academia. Despite the global Indigenous model being used, the United Nations Declaration of Indigenous Rights 2010 has also been omitted, despite the New Zealand government being a signatory to the Declaration and a large effort by government to implement it.
The following is a definition that more accurately reflects traditional and modern-day Māori society and recognises the protection to Māori by the Crown with New Zealand’s founding constitutional documents He Whakaputanga and Te Tiriti.
This definition is the umbrella definition of Māori Data Sovereignty and should be adapted depending on the circumstances as seen below.
Māori Data Sovereignty refers to the inherent rights and interests of Māori, whānau, hapū, iwi and Māori organisations have in relation to the creation, collection, access, analysis, interpretation, management, dissemination, re-use and control of data relating to Māori, whānau, hapū, iwi and Māori organisations as guaranteed in He Whakaputanga and or Te Tiriti and the provided recognition of rights with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (Taiuru, 2020).
The above modified definition above differs from the Te Mana Rauranga Māori Data Sovereignty Network who use the following definition “Māori Data Sovereignty supports tribal sovereignty and the revitalisation of Māori and Iwi aspirations”.
This definition is useful and has provided protection to date, for government to engage with Iwi as this allows the government to work with only one Iwi group, the Iwi Leaders Forum and their sub group the Iwi Leaders Data Forum. The Iwi Leaders Forum only represents a portion of Iwi (about 50) while StatsNZ recognise 170 Iwi. The definition also does not represent other Māori societal groups who contribute to Māori Data and the fact that one person is likely to associate with multiple Iwi.
Other issues of the definition above are that Iwi are not sovereign nations like the Indigenous tribes in America and Canada. Iwi are often legislated bodies of elected representatives, commercial entities, charitable trusts, conglomerates and amalgamations of other Iwi and groups. StatsNZ Census 2018 states only 20% of Māori Peoples know or engage with their Iwi. In Ngāi Tahu, less than 10% of its 65,000 members participate in their rūnanga (hapū/marae/tribal councils) who elect a representative to the tribal council to make decisions about the Iwi. Hapū are often autonomous from an Iwi, as are whānau and Māori organisations.
The aspirations of Iwi are very different from Iwi to Iwi. Some Iwi are multi million dollar corporates, while other Iwi have no finances or property and are seeking to reclaim their identity. Each Iwi have their own aspirations which differ or contradict other Iwi.
Māori is a general term used by colonial settlers to categorise the Indigenous Peoples of New Zealand. New Zealand statutes allow any person who has a descendant who is Māori to claim to be Māori. There is no way to prove that a person is Māori and rightfully so.
The term Māori does not mean an Iwi and a hapū which is a collective of Māori Peoples with intergenerational inherited rights and obligations. Thus, it is important to differentiate between Māori and Iwi, hapū, whānau and organisations.
To adequately reflect and represent Māori societal hierarchy, the following sub definitions are applicable:
Iwi Māori Data Sovereignty
Iwi Māori Data Sovereignty refers to the inherent rights and interests that iwi have in relation to the creation, collection, access, analysis, interpretation, management, dissemination, re-use and control of data relating to a specific Iwi as guaranteed in He Whakaputanga and or Te Tiriti and the provided recognition of rights with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Hapū Māori Data Sovereignty
Hapū Māori Data Sovereignty refers to the inherent rights and interests of hapū (individual or collectively) in relation to the creation, collection, access, analysis, interpretation, management, dissemination, re-use and control of data relating to hapū as inherited by whakapapa with mana atua, mana tangata and or reflected in He Whakaputanga and or Te Tiriti and the provided recognition of rights with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples..
Marae/Rūnanga Data Sovereignty
Marae/Rūnanga Data Sovereignty refers to the inherent rights and interests of Marae/Rūnanga (individual or collectively) in relation to the creation, collection, access, analysis, interpretation, management, dissemination, re-use and control of data relating to a Marae/Rūnanga as inherited by whakapapa with mana atua, mana tangata and or reflected in He Whakaputanga and or Te Tiriti and provided recognition of rights with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Rōpū Māori Data Sovereignty
Rōpū Māori Data Sovereignty refers to the inherent rights and interests of Māori organisations (commercial, not for profit, collectives, representatives, consortiums) have in relation to the creation, collection, access, analysis, interpretation, management, dissemination, re-use and control of data relating to Māori organisations Māori Peoples as inherited by whakapapa with mana atua, mana tangata and or guaranteed to Māori Peoples members in He Whakaputanga, Te Tiriti and the provided recognition of rights with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Whānau Māori Data Sovereignty
Whānau Māori Data Sovereignty refers to the inherent rights and interests Whānau Māori, whānau have in relation to the creation, collection, access, analysis, interpretation, management, dissemination, re-use and control of data relating to whānau Māori as inherited by whakapapa with mana atua, mana tangata and as guaranteed in He Whakaputanga and or Te Tiriti and the provided recognition of rights with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Licenses
Māori Data Sovereignty must in addition to the physical location of Māori data, include the software/hardware/services licenses. Proprietary licenses and licenses that prevent or limit any access to the source code, Māori Data or by product of Māori data or that take any intellectual property rights to the Māori Data or by product of Māori data is a direct breach of Māori Data Sovereignty principles.
The use of proprietary licences with Māori Data could be considered the same as the natural resources and land that was confiscated during colonisation. While the natural environment and lands were protected by Māori who had an intimate knowledge of each aspect of the environment and who needed the natural environment to survive, tell their own stories of histories, whakapapa, lore’s and much more. Then colonisation forced Māori to pay for the right to access and protect their own resources through confiscations, purchases, sales, transfers, rates, and legislation that removed many of the original rights and created a limited way knowledge could be kept and utilised.
The use of Social Licenses for Māori Data is often promoted with government exclusively for Iwi Data. The fundamental flaw with a Social License for Māori Data is that the rights of Māori Peoples, hapū, whānau, Iwi and Māori organisations are not recognised with Māori Data Sovereignty. Fundamentally, a social license has the potential to protect Māori Data, but it would require significant engagement with the relevant Māori societal group.
Other potential licenses are Creative Commons which more closely align to Māori cultural practices with knowledge, including but not limited to whakapapa, koha, hau, tapu and noa. Consideration and collaboration could also be given to the living Kaitiakitanga License by Hiku Media [1].
There are currently no single solutions to recognise Māori Data Sovereignty creating a dire need for a Māori Data Sovereignty License that recognises to the full extent the rights and obligations to Māori Peoples, Whānau, Hapū, Iwi and Māori Organisations Data.
Conclusion
Any discussion and consideration of Māori Data Sovereignty must include He Whakaputanga, Te Tiriti and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples principles and guaranteed rights to Māori Peoples in addition to Māori societal hierarchy.
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