Hon Te Ururoa Flavell
Te Minita Whanaketanga Māori
Minister for Māori Development

6 September 2017

Media Statement

Rua Kēnana pardon details released

Māori Development Minister Te Ururoa Flavell has today released a summary of an agreement which will progress a statutory pardon for Tūhoe prophet and leader Rua Kēnana.

The Crown and descendants of Rua Kēnana and Ngā Toenga o ngā Tamariki a Iharaira me ngā uri o Maungapōhatu will sign the agreement at Maungapōhatu on Saturday 9 September which bring the statutory pardon a step closer to reality.

Mr Flavell and whānau of Rua Kēnana met in Rotorua today ahead of the historic signing to outline details of the agreement.

“The agreement contains much more than the pardon. It acknowledges the lasting effects the events 2 April 1916 had on the descendants of Rua Kēnana and Ngā Toenga o ngā Tamariki a Iharaira and apologises for that,” says Mr Flavell.

“It is what his uri and followers of the Iharaira faith deserve. It goes some way to putting right a wrong from a century ago.”

The Agreement notes the Crown’s intention to introduce legislation to provide:
· a summary of the circumstances around the 1916 invasion of Maungapōhatu;
· Crown acknowledgements to the descendants of Rua Kēnana and Ngā Toenga o ngā Tamariki a Iharaira;
· a Crown apology to the descendants of Rua Kēnana and Ngā Toenga o ngā Tamariki;
· a pardon to Rua Kēnana for the conviction he sustained for moral resistance to arrest; and
· a declaration to restore the character, mana and reputation of Rua Kēnana, his uri (descendants), and Ngā Toenga o ngā Tamariki a Iharaira.
The statutory pardon for Rua Kēnana will not be made official until legislation enacting the terms of the agreement is passed by Parliament. It is a pardon for the criminal conviction.

Once passed into law the statutory pardon will be only the fourth arising from Crown-Māori relations.

In 1988, those of Ngāti Awa descent who were arrested, tried and labelled as rebels in or about 1865, received a statutory pardon in the Rūnanga o Ngāti Awa Act; in 2013, Mokomoko received statutory recognition of a previous Royal Prerogative of Mercy pardon for his involvement in the murder of
missionary Carl Volkner in 1865, and in 2014, Kereopa Te Rau also received a statutory pardon for his role in the murder of Reverend Volkner through the Treaty settlement with Ngāti Rangiwewehi.

Background: On 2 April, 1916, a contingent of 70 armed police invaded Maungapōhatu to arrest Tūhoe prophet and leader Rua Kēnana. In an exchange of gunfire, his son Toko Rua and Te Maipi Te Whiu were killed and other Māori and four police were injured.

Charges laid against Rua Kēnana over the invasion were either dismissed or resulted in his acquittal, but he was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment on an earlier charge of “moral resistance”. The Iharaira faith went into decline after the events and has never fully recovered.

The Waitangi Tribunal in 2012 determined that excessive force was used in the arrest of Rua Kēnana and it was unlawfully carried out as it was on a Sunday.

ENDS

Hon Te Ururoa Flavell
Te Minita Whanaketanga Māori

6 o Mahuru 2017
Pānui Pāpāho

Kua puta ngā whakaritenga mō te whakapāha ki a Rua Kēnana

Nō te rā nei kua pānuitia e te Minita Whanaketanga Māori, e Te Ururoa Flavell he whakarāpopototanga o te whakaaetanga e kōkiri whakamua ai te whakapāha ā-ture mō te poropiti me te rangatira o Tūhoe, mō Rua Kēnana.
Ka waitohungia te whakaaetanga e te Karauna, e ngā uri o Rua Kēnana, e Ngā Toenga o ngā Tamariki a Iharaira, e ngā uri hoki o Maungapōhatu ā te Rāhoroi, 9 o Mahuru ki Maungapōhatu, ā, e tohu ana tēnei kua tata te whakatinanatanga o te whakapāha ā-ture.

I hui tahi a Flavell me ngā whānau o Rua Kēnana ki Rotorua i tēnei rā i mua tonu i te hui waitohu whakahirahira, ki te whakamārama i ngā kōiriiri o te whakaaetanga.
Ki tā Flavell, “he mea nui atu anō i roto i te whakaaetanga i tua atu i te whakapāha. Ka whākina te pānga atu o ngā mahi i te 2 o Paengawhāwhā i te tau 1916 ki runga i ngā uri o Rua Kēnana me Ngā Toenga o ngā Tamariki a Iharaira me te whakapāha hoki mō tērā.”
“Me pēnei ka tika ki ngā uri, ki ngā apataki hoki o te hāhi o Iharaira. He mea iti hei whakatika i te hē mai i tērā rautau.”
E ai ki te Whakaaetanga, ka wawe ai te Karauna ki te kōkiri i te whakaturehanga mō ēnei āhuatanga:
· he whakarāpopototanga i ngā āhuatanga mō te whakaekenga o Maungapōhatu i te tau 1916;
· he whakamihi nā te Karauna ki ngā uri o Rua Kēnana me Ngā Toenga o ngā Tamariki a Iharaira;
· he whakapāha nā te Karauna ki ngā uri o Rua Kēnana me Ngā Toenga o ngā Tamariki a Iharaira;
· he whakapāha ki a Rua Kēnana mō te whakawhiu i a ia mō te ātetenga ā-whakaaro; ā,
· he pānuitanga ki te whakahaumanu i a ia, i te mana, i te rongo hoki o Rua Kēnana, o ōna uri, o Ngā Toenga o ngā Tamariki a Iharaira hoki.
Ka whakamanatia te whakapāha ā-ture ki a Rua Kēnana i muri mai i te tautoko a te Pāremata mō te whakaturehanga o ngā āhuatanga o te whakaaetanga. He whakapāha tēnei mō te whiu taihara.
Ka huri hei ture, ko te whakapāha ā-ture tuawhā anake tēnei i waenganui i te mahitahi a te Karauna me te Māori.
I te tau 1988, nā te ture o te Rūnanga o Ngāti Awa i āhei tētahi whakapāha ā-ture mō ngā tāngata katoa o Ngāti Awa i mauheretia, i whakawātia, i whakapaetia hoki he kaiwhakatuma i te tau 1865. I te tau 2013, i whakawhiwhia a Mokomoko ki tētahi whakamihi ā-ture i runga i te whakapāha Royal Prerogrative of Mercy mō tana whai wāhitanga i roto i te kōhurutanga o te mihingare Carl Volkner. Ā, i te tau 2014, i whakawhiwhia a Kereopa Te Rau ki tētahi whakapāha ā-ture mō tana mahi i roto i te kōhurutanga o te Minita Volkner; i whai wāhi mai tēnei i roto i te whakataunga kēreme o Ngāti Rangiwewehi.
He kupu whakamārama: Nō te 2 o ngā rā o Paengawhāwhā i te tau 1916, e 70 ngā pirihimana maupū i whakaekea a Maungapōhatu, ki te mauhere i te poropiti, i te rangatira hoki o Tūhoe, i a Rua Kēnana. Ka waiwaipū mō tētahi wā, ā, i te otinga atu, i pūhia kia mate te tama a Rua Kēnana, arā, ko Toko Rua rāua ko Te Maipi Whiu, ā, i whara hoki ētahi atu Māori me ētahi pirihimana tokowhā.
Ko ngā heitara ki runga i a Rua Kēnana i te whakaekenga, i murua, i wetekina, engari i whiua kētia kia mauheretia ia mō te tekau mā waru marama mō te ātetetanga ā-whakaaro, he heitara o mua. Ka heke te mauri o te hāhi o Iharaira i muri mai, ā, kāore anō kia oraora anō.
Ka whakatauhia e te Taraipiunara o Waitangi i te tau 2012, he taikaha nui nō ngā pirihimana ki te mauhere i a Rua Kēnana, ā, he mahi taihara hoki te mauhere i a Rua Kēnana i te rangi Rātapu.
MUTU ANA

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