Getting your claimant group across the settlement line; a quick guide

The journey to obtain redress for historical Treaty of Waitangi claims can be lengthy.

Here’s a quick breakdown of 3 key aspects of the process you should be aware of when trying to get your claimant group across the settlement line.

1. The Crown settles with Large Natural Groups, following negotiations on its behalf by the Office of Treaty Settlements (OTS). Claimant groups can be made up of iwi or groups of iwi, or a number of hapu from the same area.
2. Settlements provide three kinds of redress, namely an historical account of the Treaty breaches and Crown acknowledgement and apology, cultural redress (e.g. transfer of Crown land, changing place names, co-governance of resources), and financial and commercial redress (e.g. cash, property).
3. There are four stages to settlements: pre-negotiation (choosing representatives for negotiation with OTS), negotiation (agreement on a Deed of Settlement), legislation, and implementation (implementing contents of the Deed).

To further discuss settlement of your claimant group’s historical Treaty of Waitangi claims, contact us on 0800 733 424.