Anonymous donor buys Te Tiriti handbook for every secondary ...

How a bookshop event inspired an anonymous donor to share what they learned with every secondary school in Aotearoa.

An anonymous donor has facilitated the dispatch of hundreds of copies of Understanding Te Tiriti: A handbook of basic facts about Te Tiriti o Waitangi by barrister Roimata Smail (Ngāti Maniapoto, Tainui, England, Scotland, Ireland) to high schools all over the country.

The donor met Smail at an event on Te Tiriti o Waitangi held at The Women’s Bookshop in Ponsonby on June 13 this year. “I gave a brief 20-minute presentation and signed copies [of my book],” said Smail. “[The donor] went home, read the book, and was struck by how easy to understand it was. Inspired, they decided to help others discover it too.”

Smail’s 32-page guide is the result of over 20 years of work at the Waitangi Tribunal, and teaching Te Tiriti workshops. The book covers the three articles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, the Treaty vs Tiriti differences, law-making by the Crown, Treaty principles, Treaty settlements and more, and is aimed at readers of all ages looking to learn about Te Tiriti for the first time.

“I have empathy for my own generation who didn’t get to learn our history, and anyone else who just doesn’t know the basic facts that I’ve been lucky enough to learn over the course of my career as a lawyer,” said Smail.  “You don’t have to get the 20-year education like I did,” she said. “You don’t have to be an academic to understand Te Tiriti or the principles.” To publish Understanding Te Tiriti, Smail set up her own press with the help of whānau, called Wai Ako Books.

After the event at The Women’s Bookshop, the donor emailed Smail with an offer to help spread the word by putting a copy of her book in every high school in New Zealand. “It was a complete surprise — a dream come true,” said Smail. “I’ve met so many wonderful people at talks and book signings since launching in January, but this was different.”

The anonymous donation is hot on the heels of the hīkoi mō te tiriti that took place on November 19 to protest a number of government policies relating to Māori, particularly Act’s Treaty principles bill. Smail’s hope is that through the donation of her book, all high school students will be an opportunity to know “what it took me 20 years to learn. They’ll get access to the clear, correct basic information before they leave high school,” she said. 

“Looking back, I knew nothing before I began working as a lawyer specialising in Te Tiriti. It didn’t need to be that way, because what I have learned in my career about Te Tiriti is not complicated.”

A special presentation of the first of the donated books will take place on today at Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o te Raki Paewhenua in Rosedale. 

Understanding Te Tiriti: A handbook of basic facts about Te Tiriti o Waitangi by Roimata Smail (Wai Ako books, $25) is available to purchase from Unity Books.