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/ 

This article is the most recent in a number of Māori Data Sovereignty and AI posts. My previous post is called Māori Data Sovereignty an Updated Definition.

Māori Data Sovereignty consultation requires much more than only consulting the government Treaty partner, or talking to Māori in any one particular group. This brief article explains modern day Māori society structure and hierarchy, who are all stakeholders with Māori Data Sovereignty.

While some Māori individuals and the New Zealand government have modelled Māori Data Sovereignty on Indigenous Data Sovereignty principles (who use tribal sovereign nations as the basis), as I explained in my previous article, this is not an appropriate model for Māori.

As opposed to tribal sovereign nations, Māori society comprises of a complex social, professional, commercial, and genealogical groups and sub groups, many of which are traditional, while others have been formed and legislated to grow with modern day society. Each of these in turn also have their own consenting, data, and leadership that must be considered.

 

Background

In traditional Māori society, there is no notion of the western concept of ‘ownership’. Māori view themselves as the collective interim guardian of the physical and spiritual environment. In this digital society, that now includes data.

Every individual Māori person is a descendant of an ancestor who is Māori. Through that ancestor each individual Māori person has a genealogical connection to at least one: hapū (clan), iwi (tribe), whānau (family group), waka (ocean voyaging vessel), marae (ancestral meeting house), and land.

Most Māori have multiple genealogical connections to multiple ancestors, hapū, iwi, marae, and land. Each individual, whānau, hapū and Iwi make up the myriad of Maori organisations and groups.

Māori today identify with land, whānau, iwi, hapū, waka, marae and ancestors in their pepeha. Future generations of Māori will include their relationships to data and likely AI systems and algorithms, as they increasingly continue to utilise and rely on Māori data.

 

Can the Treaty Partner offer Māori sovereignty of data?

The New Zealand Government, primarily StatsNZ consult their Treaty Partner in all matters regarding Māori Data Sovereignty as seen in the Mana Ōrite Relationship Agreement. The Treaty Partner is The Iwi Leaders Forum. One issue with this relationship that has been forced upon Māori by The Crown when they established this Eurocentric structure, is that the Forum only represents a portion of Iwi (about 50). StatsNZ, with a large consensus of Māori, recognise 132 unique Iwi of about 170 in total.

Another of the primary concerns with Iwi being the primary contact for Māori data sovereignty is that according to StatsNZ Census in 2018, only 20% of Māori Peoples know or engage with their Iwi. There is no consideration that hapū are often autonomous from an Iwi, as are whānau.

I will now consider the Ngāi Tahu tribe as an example of an Iwi not having authority over Māori Data Sovereignty (noting all Iwi have the same representative issues but at varying percentages).  In the 2013 Census, people who affiliated to Ngāi Tahu was 54,819 while tribal registrations at the time was at least 20,000 less. Researcher Dr Eruera Tarena identified that less than 10% of Ngāi Tahu registered members interact with Ngāi Tahu, and those who do are usually politically motivated and from influential families.

Under legislation, Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu require the agreement of 18 papatipu rūnaka (tribal councils) to make significant decisions. Considering this is a $Billion plus large multi level corporate structure with no established Science or Technology division and the fact there is no tribal representative on the Iwi Leaders Forum Data group, it must be asked how does the tribe provide input into a what is perceived sub committee on Māori data (there is no public information on the web site and no public details of this committee, despite other committees being public)?

Three further examples of public disagreements with Iwi who have been forced into a western Eurocentric structures. Tūhoe Iwi who are at difference with their own hapū over decision making and resources. Whakatōhea Iwi who ended up in the Waitangi Tribunal making a number of serious allegations against their negotiator. Ngāti Rereahu who are asking to manage any land in its rohe returned under the Te Rohe Pōtae settlement, rather than have it owned by a post-settlement governance entity for all of Ngāti Maniapoto.

 

Traditional Māori Society (Physical)

Traditional Māori society is the foundation for today’s modern Māori society. Every individual person’s data has a whakapapa connection that is multi directional from the Tipuna to the whānau, hapū, iwi and the individual.

Traditional knowledge states that Māori left Polynesia in multiple voyages in multiple waka to settle their new homes in New Zealand. Hence, on the waka is a number of family members. Upon arriving in New Zealand, those family members explored the land and settled in their clans under the mantle of their primary tribe. Each clan explored and named landscapes and environment in their geographic locations. There were significant intermarriages, land wars and merging of clans and tribes for survival.

The physical genealogy of every Māori person at least includes the following relationships as does their data:

• Tipuna
• Waka
• Iwi
• Rangatira (multiple classes: Chiefs)
• Tohunga (Spiritual Experts)
• Kaumātua (Learned old people)
• Upoko (Head of a whānau, hapū or Iwi)
• Marae
• Village
• Hapū
• Whānau (Family: Tuakana/Teina)
• Induvial Person

 

Modern Day Māori society

Building on top of the traditional Māori society platform is a range of new Māori groups and collectives’ data that must be considered in addition to the traditional Māori society platform.

All of these groups have their own internal leadership structures are comprise of Maori individuals, groups, whanau, hapū, iwi, marae, kaumātua:

• Pan-iwi/Māori representative bodies such as: National Urban Māori Authority, Federation of Māori Authorities, Māori Women’s Welfare League
• Rūnanga
• Māori Council
• Religious Groups such as Ratana, Hauhau, Ringatu
• Iwi based organisations who are not recognised as Iwi such as Wakatū Incorporation, Wellington Tenths Trust.
• Post Settlement Iwi corporations such as Te Runanga o Ngai Tahu, Waikato, Te Ohu Kaimoana
• Non-Traditional Iwi groups for those who do not know their Iwi or who live away from their Iwi such as Ngā Maatawaka ki Otautahi, Te Whānau O Waipareira Trust
• Legislative Māori bodies such as the Māori Council and Māori Wardens
• Kingitanga Movement
• Māori Organisations such as sports clubs, not for Profits, charitable Trusts
• Education groups: Kōhanga Reo, Kura Kaupapa Māori, Māori medium school, Wānanga, Māori Student Associations
• Māori Land groups: Ahu Whenua Trust, Kaitiaki Trust, Māori Incorporation, Māori Reservation, Pūtea Trust, Whānau Trust, Whenua Tōpū Trust
• Political groups such as the Māori Party
• Treaty of Waitangi Claimants
• Māori Social and Health providers and community groups
• Fraternities and social groups including gangs
• Advisory Groups including Maori experts, kaumātua
• Maori Professional and Interest groups
• Māori owned companies
• Iwi leaders Forum
• Iwi based kaumātua council such as Tūhoe

 

Conclusion

There is an urgent need for government to consult with wider Māori communities regarding Māori constitutional Te Tiriti rights, and to consider how to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples to manage and work in partnerships with Māori communities for the sovereignty of their own taonga/treasures (Data). Failure to do so may end with repatriation claims, new claims to the Waitangi Tribunal in a similar manner that Māori now take disputes over land to be rectified and compensated for breaches of Te Tiriti.

All aspects of Māori society must acknowledge that data is a Taonga and consider that data also considers that DNA is data.