![Iwi leaders at Matariki dinner Government House](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/84/Iwi_leaders_at_Matariki_dinner_Government_House.jpg)
The National Iwi Chairs Forum is an entity founded in 2005 made up of the chairpersons of 71
iwi
Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori roughly means "people" or "nation", and is often translated as "tribe", or "a confederation of tribes". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, ...
groups in New Zealand, facilitating the sharing of information among iwi leaders. The Forum holds meetings four times a year at different
marae
A ' (in New Zealand Māori, Cook Islands Māori, Tahitian), ' (in Tongan), ' (in Marquesan) or ' (in Samoan) is a communal or sacred place that serves religious and social purposes in Polynesian societies. In all these languages, the term a ...
throughout the country and brings together
Māori
Māori or Maori can refer to:
Relating to the Māori people
* Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group
* Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand
* Māori culture
* Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...
leaders around strategic topics.
Organisation
The National Iwi Chairs Forum was formed in 2005 with the aim of increasing
mana motuhake, or autonomy and self-governance, and held its first meeting at Takahanga Marae in Kaikōura in November 2005.
It was the brainchild of
Ngāi Tahu
Ngāi Tahu, or Kāi Tahu, is the principal Māori (tribe) of the South Island. Its (tribal area) is the largest in New Zealand, and extends from the White Bluffs / Te Parinui o Whiti (southeast of Blenheim), Mount Mahanga and Kahurangi Point ...
leader
Mark Solomon.
It has also been known as the Iwi Leaders Forum or the Iwi Leadership Forum.
The second meeting was a three-day hui held at Pipitea Marae in Wellington in March 2006. That meeting was criticised by the then chairman of the National Urban Maori Authority,
Willie Jackson, who said that it was ignorant of the iwi leaders to exclude urban Māori. Peter Love, spokesman for the Iwi Chairs Forum, said that the meeting was for "traditional Māori iwi-based runanga and trusts who have come together to discuss the future of Māoridom", and that representatives of urban Māori were not invited because they were not a traditional grouping of Māori.
Members of Parliament
Parekura Horomia
Parekura Tureia Horomia (9 November 1950 – 29 April 2013) was a New Zealand Labour Party politician who served as Minister of Māori Affairs between 2000 and 2008.
Early life
Horomia was born in Tolaga Bay of Ngāti Porou, Te Aitanga Hauiti, ...
and
Shane Jones
Shane Geoffrey Jones (born 3 September 1959) is a New Zealand politician. He served as a New Zealand First list MP from 2017 to 2020 and was previously a Labour list MP from 2005 to 2014.
Jones was a cabinet minister in the Fifth Labour Gove ...
were disappointed that the media was excluded from the meeting.
The Forum has since then maintained its stance of keeping a low profile in the media.
In 2010 it was accused of a lack of transparency by lawyer and activist
Annette Sykes
Annette Te Imaima Sykes (born c.1961) is a Rotorua activist and lawyer who advocates for the rights of Māori tribes to be self-governing. She was ranked third on the joint Internet Mana list for the 2014 New Zealand general election.
Biograp ...
.
In 2023, people at the leadership of the Forum included
Margaret Mutu, Te Huia Bill Hamilton,
Naida Glavish
Dame Rangimārie Naida Glavish ( ) (born 1946) is a New Zealand politician and Māori community leader from the Ngāti Whātua iwi. From 2013 to 2016, she was President of the Māori Party.
Early life and career
Glavish is affiliated to Ng ...
, Lorraine Toki, Kirikowhai Mikaere, Maxine Graham, Pahia Turia, Te Mauri Kingi, Tania Blyth-Williams,
Selwyn Parata, Tina Porou, Rukumoana Schaafhausen, Donna Flavell, Mike Smith, Lisa Tumahai, Hinekaa Mako and Mike Neho. Others involved included Pou Tahua, one of the chairs in 2022. The Pou Tangata chair in 2021 was Rāhui Papa.
Work and views
Meetings with the New Zealand government
The Iwi Chairs Forum often meets with the New Zealand government. The
National
National may refer to:
Common uses
* Nation or country
** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen
Places in the United States
* National, Maryland, c ...
government met regularly with the Iwi Chairs Forum during their nine years in office from 2008 to 2017. In 2020 the Forum met with prime minister
Jacinda Ardern
Jacinda Kate Laurell Ardern ( ; born 26 July 1980) is a New Zealand politician who has been serving as the 40th prime minister of New Zealand and leader of the Labour Party since 2017. A member of the Labour Party, she has been the member of ...
at
Waitangi. Amohaere Houkaamou commented that the
Labour
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
government at that time had "been a lot more stand-off than the previous government... this government has a lot to learn from the previous government". Ward Kamo of Ngāi Tahu has suggested that this difference in treatment may have been due to the role of
Te Pāti Māori
Te Pāti Māori (), also known as the Māori Party, is a political party in New Zealand advocating indigenous rights. It contests the specially reserved Māori electorates, in which its main rival is the Labour Party.
Under the current lead ...
in the earlier National government.
In 2022 the Forum reported that there were many positive developments in their relationship with the Crown, including the Iwi Housing Prototype and the Whenua Māori initiatives.
Other work
The Forum has occasionally established special interest working groups to deal with issues of particular interest to Māori. In 2011 it had groups for climate change and for
foreshore and seabed issues, both chaired by Mark Solomon, as well as groups on national water management, public-private partnership investment opportunities for iwi, and healthcare policy.
In 2013 the Forum said that iwi were not ruling out investing in the
charter school
A charter school is a school that receives government funding but operates independently of the established state school system in which it is located. It is independent in the sense that it operates according to the basic principle of autono ...
model. The Forum's view was that iwi want an education system which allows Māori to have a say and iwi are prepared to resource it.
In 2014 the Forum called for the government to stop selling public housing that it owned through
Housing New Zealand
Housing, or more generally, living spaces, refers to the construction and assigned usage of houses or buildings individually or collectively, for the purpose of shelter. Housing ensures that members of society have a place to live, whether ...
. The government wanted iwi and local communities to provide public housing, but the Iwi Chairs Forum stated that iwi were not in a position to make commercial decisions because they had not yet received funds via
Treaty settlements.
Bill English
Sir Simon William English (born 30 December 1961) is a New Zealand former National Party politician who served as the 39th prime minister of New Zealand from 2016 to 2017 and as the 17th deputy prime minister of New Zealand and minister of f ...
, the minister responsible for Housing New Zealand at the time, would not commit to a moratorium but said his ministry remained in contact with the Iwi Chairs.
In March 2020 the National Iwi Chairs Forum Pandemic Response Group (NICF-PRG) was established to "save Māori lives and the lives of those immediately around them" by getting the government to reprioritise its policies and the needs of Māori people.
In 2021 there was a two-day meeting at
Takapūwāhia marae in
Porirua hosted by
Ngāti Toa
Ngāti Toa, Ngāti Toarangatira or Ngāti Toa Rangatira, is a Māori '' iwi'' (tribe) based in the southern North Island and in the northern South Island of New Zealand. Its '' rohe'' (tribal area) extends from Whanganui in the north, Palmerston ...
, with each iwi afforded the opportunity to give feedback on how the
Māori Health Authority would function to support all Māori.
The Forum holds regular meetings at various locations. In 2023 there was one meeting in the South Island.
References
External links
*
{{authority control
Māori organisations
2005 establishments in New Zealand