The High Court decision that the Ministry of Health must hand over Māori Data to Whānau Ora is a significant and swift stride towards Māori Data Sovereignty that has left Māori and the government exposed.
Ideally, the government and academia would have been engaging with Māori groups and Iwi to recognise Māori/hapū/marae/Iwi Data Sovereignty and how to implement best practices. But now, every person who has self-identified as Māori and engaged with the Ministry of Health system will now have some of their data shared with a Māori organisation. This will install fear and mistrust into some Maori and whānau, while at the same time will get much needed support into the Māori communities during this Covid pandemic.
Some of the backlash with this High Court ruling will likely be that some Māori will refuse to self-identify as Māori with government agencies. Iwi, hapū and marae health providers who have the rangatiratanga that is recognised in Te Tiriti has been overlooked in this instance.
The ruling has essentially stated that all Māori have the same needs and are the same without considering that some Māori choose to not identify or engage with Māori. The Crown have only concentrated on Iwi Data Sovereignty rights in the past and have ignored hapū, marae and Māori organisations Data Sovereignty leaving a gap of consensus and ability to be a good treaty partner.
The Ministry of Health with great urgency must consider how they will implement Māori/hapū/marae/Iwi Data Sovereignty and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples rights for individuals, especially the right to full prior and informed consent.
This is certainly a wakeup call for all of government who how they will recognise Data Sovereignty rights and Te Tiriti principles in addition to the rights of individuals.
Moving forward, all Māori data (digital and biological) collected will need opt out clauses and implement whānau, hapū, marae, rōpū and even whānau Data Sovereignty considerations.
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