Our Te Tiriti o Waitangi Journey

Trade Aid New Zealand affirms Māori as Tangata Whenua and Te Tiriti o Waitangi as the founding document of Aotearoa/ New Zealand. Te Tiriti o Waitangi outlines the aspiration of an equitable partnership between Tangata Whenua and the Crown and provides a basis for all Tangata Tiriti (people of the treaty) to live in Aotearoa.

 

Trade Aid recognises its responsibility and commits to embodying the intent and practices of equitable partnership, as defined in Te Tiriti o Waitangi. The articles of Kāwanatanga, Rangatiratanga, Ōritetanga and the Spoken Promise will guide our relationship with Tangata Whenua and our tiriti-honouring practices.

 

As an Aotearoa organisation and a tiriti partner we commit to advocating for and showing in practice how to work in accordance with Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

 

View our guiding policy.

 

As a fair trade organisation our behaviour aligns with the WFTO fair trade principles, view these bi-lingual principles here.

 

Trade Aid is working towards meeting its policy aspirations through a strategic framework developed in conjunction with Janelle at Riki Consultancy. Each Trade Aid shop around New Zealand will create its own work plan using the framework to progress their tiriti journey within their communities.

 

This strategic framework enables Trade Aid to consider the implications of te tiriti from an individual perspective (āhau), an organisational perspective (mātou), and in our interactions with the community (tātou). Each of these perspectives are considered across the four articles of Te Tiriti and the spaces they represent.

 

View an example of this strategic framework created by the team at our importing company in Christchurch in 2023.

 

Against this framework, the plan for the year for the Ōtautahi team includes providing professional learning opportunities for staff to fully understand Māori values, and to role model where and how these values can be demonstrated across the organisation. It involves encouraging each of its staff and volunteers to engage in and create bi-cultural spaces, and to develop their competence and confidence to engage with Te Ao Māori and tikanga through practice and exposure. The plan also includes sharing the journey, the excitement and learnings from these and other planned initiatives in communications with supporters and communities through our national website, social media and other internal and external forums.

 

We know we are at the beginning of a journey of learning, continuous improvement, and reflection on this important mahi. If you would like further information or if you have feedback to share with us, homai ōu whakaaro, we’d love to hear from you.

 

Waiho i te toipoto, kaua i te toiroa

Let us keep close together, not far apart

Staff asking for kai using Te Reo Māori during a shared lunch for Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori.

Te Reo Māori lessons outside during Mahuru Māori.

Janelle Riki-Waaka presenting at Trade Aid’s annual conference in Ōtautahi.

Celebrating Matariki with a hāngī at a Trade Aid whānau event.