Iwi classification errors in the recent census highlight the fundamental problem of Crown collection and control of indigenous data, writes Tommy de Silva.
When filling out my 2023 census form, I was baffled that my iwi – Ngāti Te Ata Waiohua – was not on the official list of iwi for Tāmaki Makaurau. Eventually, I found that we were on the Waikato list. Ngāti Te Ata Waiohua is one of the longest-standing tangata whenua of Tāmaki Makaurau (including Manukau and Franklin). We have a thousand-year history of ahi kā in the region.
Although we also have a whakapapa connection to Waikato, Tāmaki is our tūrangawaewae. Parāone Takaanini – a Waiohua kaumatua – once challenged me for overstating our Waikato-Tainui connection, so I won’t make that mistake twice. Not only did the census fail to acknowledge us as mana whenua in our rohe, but it also missed the crucial “Waiohua” portion of our ingoa. Fundamentally, Ngāti Te Ata is part of the wider Te Waiohua rōpū. To make matters worse, Te Waiohua itself was not a selection on any of the official census lists either.
The 2023 census categorises iwi into 12 regions. There are other categories like “Iwi Not Named, but Waka or Iwi Confederation Known” as well. There isn’t actually a region for Tāmaki-Makaurau itself. Instead, we are subsumed into the massive Te Tai Tokerau/Tāmaki-Makaurau (Northland/Auckland) region. Only nine of the wider Tāmaki mana whenua groups are on Stats NZ’s official Northland/Auckland list, most of whom are hybrid Tāmaki-Tai-Tokerau iwi. Five Auckland mana whenua rōpū are on the Hauraki list, and four – including my iwi – are in the Waikato/Te Rohe Pōtae (King Country) category. One recognised Tāmaki mana whenua rōpū – Te Ahiwaru Waiohua – is not on any of the lists.
Why is Tāmaki Makaurau not an independent region as part of this Stats NZ data set anyway? A spokesperson said Stats NZ has considered splitting Te Tai Tokerau and Tāmaki Makaurau into separate regions, but “we are aware that a number of iwi overlap both”. Te Tai Rāwhiti (East Coast) is rightly not subsumed by larger rohe and is an independent entity, with its five census-recognised iwi. Auckland Council recognises 19 mana whenua iwi that can claim some interest in Tāmaki, so logically, we deserve an independent region. If the Tāmaki mana whenua made up a region, it would be the largest grouping on the official census list.
Another question to ask is why can’t iwi be allocated to more than one region? Te ao Māori is fluid in many ways. One aspect of that fluidity is that hapū and iwi connect to areas that cross the strict boundary lines on western maps. Some iwi actually are allocated to two regions. According to Stats NZ, “some iwi can exist as separate entities in different regions (for example, Ngāti Kahungunu) – these are created as multiple iwi in the classification so data can be produced separately and collectively”.
My iwi from Tāmaki also has whakapapa connections to Waikato. One example is the marriage between our ancestress Te Ata i Rehia of Waiohua and Tapaue of Ngāti Mahuta. Ngāti Te Ata Waiohua have also long been supporters of Te Kiingitanga, led by mokopuna of Tapaue. During the Waikato War (1863-1864) we sent 100 toa to bolster the fighting force of Kiingi Tawhiao. The blood of our tūpuna was shed alongside our Waikato whanaunga during many conflicts, not just during the Crown’s illegal invasion of the Waikato. Although we have clear connections to both Tāmaki and Waikato, if we are to be categorised into only one region it should be our tūrangawaewae, not that of our whanaunga.
Pāora Puru, who does taiao mahi for my iwi, thinks there has once again been a “lack of mana whenua partnership and participation at a governance level (rangatira ki te rangatira) in developing the census process”, adding that “censuses continue to fail to deliver high-quality Māori and iwi data”. Puru laid down a wero to Stats NZ and Te Kāwanatanga, saying, “my challenge to the census would be, who determines who mana whenua is in Tāmaki? That’s not for the Crown to decide.” As agreed upon in Te Tiriti o Waitangi – signed by Ngāti Te Ata Waiohua on the shores of Te Mānuka – te kāwanatanga shouldn’t subvert tino rangatiratanga. Yet the Crown attempting to determine who is mana whenua is a subversion of that agreement.
Why does the census misrepresenting my iwi even matter, though? As The Spinoff’s own Shanti Mathias put it, “at the most basic level, census data is used to show where money and resources should go in a country. Information gathered from the census is a key for the government to make funding decisions.” So resources for Māori that should be destined for Tāmaki Makaurau might be rerouted out of Auckland, since most Tāmaki mana whenua are in other regions on the census list.
Census findings are also of great intrigue to tangata whenua. Puru noted that for our iwi – which has not signed a treaty settlement yet – “the census can provide integral data to support our treaty claim and the aspirations and priorities of our people”. But he reiterated that there is a “lack of iwi control over iwi data”. According to Te Mana Raraunga (TMR), the Māori Data Sovereignty Network, information about tangata whenua should “support tribal sovereignty and the realisation of Māori and iwi aspirations”. But Māori data is primarily controlled by the government in a way that mainly serves the needs of Pākehā, not tangata whenua. Māori are viewed as study subjects who don’t need to be included in data collection processes, and for whom the Crown can paternalistically make decisions for.
Tahu Kūkūtai is a demography professor focusing on indigenous data and a founding member of TMR. Amid the international disinformation crisis and declining survey response rates, she believes now might be a good time to think about “new census approaches, not imposed from ‘the top down’, but in partnership”. Kūkūtai noted that because “our kawa and tikanga provide very strong foundations for what good data should look like”, a Māori-designed system “will likely work for all of Aotearoa”.
Speaking in a personal capacity, Kūkūtai believes that iwi data, in particular, “does not belong in kāwanatanga systems”, but currently there isn’t a “feasible alternative”. The government has committed to transforming the census, with the goal to create census-like data by repurposing other government information sources. Could a separate tangata whenua data collection process sit alongside a transformed census? One aspiration Kūkūtai has is “an iwi data system that sits outside of government… that is safe and secure, that is governed by iwi, and that is much more responsive to iwi information needs and priorities”. Kūkūtai clearly articulated whakaaro shared by many tangata whenua, saying, “Māori data is our taonga, Māori data belongs in Māori hands”. She adds that “whānau should know what data is being collected, how it will be used, and what the risks and benefits are to them.”
In the lead-up to the census, Stats NZ runs an “iwi classification update” where missing iwi and name changes can be registered. The update form focused on rohe, and Kūkūtai believes Ngāti Te Ata Waiohua could have been included on the Northland/Auckland region rather than Waikato if we had submitted it. But the latest update deadline was November 2021, in the middle of the Auckland delta lockdown, when the March 2023 census was on very few people’s minds. The update also expects iwi to manoeuvre through systems not designed by or for Māori. Although by all accounts, the update was not a huge task, for pre-settlement iwi that lack capacity and resources – like Ngāti Te Ata Waiohua – these sorts of tasks can easily slip through the cracks.
I acknowledge that statisticians are by trade not experts in tangata whenua sociopolitics. But since that is the case – and as long as the settler state collects data about us – Stats NZ should outsource the creation of the census’s iwi list to Māori. No one knows the complexities of te ao Māori and can undertake processes in a tika way better than tangata whenua. Regarding the census, Pāora Puru said “Ngaati Te Ata Waiohua exercise rangatiratanga and kaitiakitanga over our whenua, wai, waahi tapu and taonga within Tāmaki. Our people are our taonga, and the sheer fact that we can’t identify ourselves as an iwi of Tāmaki [in the census] is a direct violation of these values and our whakapapa.” Echoing the kōrero of both Kūkūtai and Puru, maybe it is time to create a new Māori data collection system dictated by tikanga and kawa for the benefit of tangata whenua.