The Treaty – Confessions of a Middle-Aged White Guy

New Zealand's prosperous and harmonious future relies on positive relationships, including the relationship between partners to The Treaty of Waitangi / Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

'The Treaty & Me' is a series of lectures presented by Network Waitangi Whangārei. In this series, four respected voices will speak from their own experience and research, each giving a lunchtime and an evening lecture over four consecutive Thursdays. Attendees are encouraged to submit questions for a Q&A style interview with the speaker and the MC, which will directly follow each talk.

After 40+ blissful years living life as the hero of his own story, speaker Paul Barlow was horrified to discover that he and his ancestors were the villain of someone else’s. How guilty should he be? And what could he do to make amends? Join Paul to explore how he worked through this to learn more about what “Kotahitanga” (one people) really means, and how Te Tiriti is the guide to making that happen.

Paul is a Social media influencer with 25,000 followers, former columnist for the Waikato Times and Stuff, and a media theory & communications expert.

MC Damian Pullen is a Pākeha of English ancestry, and a counsellor at Te Kāreti Katorika o Pomapārie in Whangārei. He is committed to a Te Tiriti-based future for Aotearoa.

This session will also run from 12-2pm on 7 November at Whangārei Library. A NZ Sign language interpreter will be interpreting the lunchtime session only.


The speakers and topics on other dates in this series are:

24 Oct: ‘Becoming Tangata Tiriti' – What Does it Mean?
Speaker: Avril Bell - Honorary Associate Professor in Sociology, University of Auckland, Author of Becoming Tangata Tiriti and Relating Indigenous and Settler Identities: Beyond Domination, Co-editor of A Land of Milk and Honey? Making Sense of Aotearoa New Zealand
MC: Sheryl Mai – former Mayor of Whangārei

31 Oct: From 'The Treaty and Me' to 'Te Tiriti and We' – Becoming a Pākehā Tiriti Ally in the Workplace
Speaker: Ngaire Rae – PhD, local Treaty / Anti-racism educator & Health promoter, Chair of Waka Ama NZ, Deputy Chair of Foundation North & former Deputy Chair of Northland DHB
MC: Sir Chris Farrelly, Health & Community Development advocate

14 Nov: The Treaty Principles Bill and its Context - Values and Action
Speaker: Max Harris – Barrister, campaigner, with a PhD in constitutional law, former United Nations Development Programme consultant and author of The New Zealand Project.
MC: Ngaire Rae, Whangārei-based Tiriti Educator