In July, a delegation representing Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu visited Japan. The heke, led by Tā Mark Solomon and our Upoko Tā Tipene O’Regan, went to pay respects to Mr Masashi Yamada and to acknowledge his remarkable support for Ngāi Tahu – support which made progressing the Ngāi Tahu claims and settlement possible.

In the late 1980s, the then-bankers for Ngāi Tahu told the Ngāi Tahu Māori Board that they were unwilling to continue funding the Board (which is another whole story) and that we would have to close our tribe’s account with them. Like rats leaving a sinking ship the rest of the New Zealand banks took a similar position and we were facing having to shut down the struggle for Te Kerēme. [Read more…]