![\"Pat](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/4PZDEUB_20140419_093213590_iOS_jpg.jpeg\")
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\nPat Gray (right) and Ange Jones (left) are “proud Tangata Tiriti” and belong to Network Waitangi Whang\u0101rei – an organisation that provides information, education and support to implement Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
\nPhoto: Layla Bailey-McDowell \/ RNZ\n<\/p>\n
More P\u0101keh\u0101 are enrolling in Treaty education workshops and seeking out information about Te Tiriti o Waitangi, according to long-standing Treaty educators.<\/p>\n
Waitangi Network Whang\u0101rei, a community-based r\u014dp\u016b said membership enrolments have tripled in the last year, alongside increasing attendance at its public workshops introducing people to Te Tiriti.<\/p>\n
“We’ve had big numbers in the last few years, so there’s a lot more interest in people trying to understand about Te Tiriti,” Network Waitangi Whang\u0101rei member and educator Ngaire Ray told RNZ.<\/p>\n
“There’s a real movement for people to understand what does Te Tiriti mean for all of us.”<\/p>\n
Network Waitangi Whang\u0101rei has been operating since 1985. Originally known as Project Waitangi, the group was established to educate non-M\u0101ori about the Treaty in the lead-up to the 150th anniversary of its signing in 1990.<\/p>\n
Ray said the group had been travelling to Waitangi for decades, focusing on encouraging Tangata Tiriti to see Te Tiriti as relevant to them.<\/p>\n
“It’s our partnership, it’s a relationship,” she said.<\/p>\n
“Te Tiriti is for all people and if we embrace Te Tiriti, it sets out the path and the future for Aotearoa.”<\/p>\n
She said Te Tiriti was an agreement between two nations – M\u0101ori and the Crown – and that non-M\u0101ori had a responsibility to understand the historical context and the commitments made in 1840.<\/p>\n
“It’s really important that my people, that P\u0101keh\u0101 people and non-M\u0101ori are present in the relationship and understand Te Tiriti, we understand the historical context of where that was signed, what was agreed in Te Tiriti and what does it mean for us and the future of Aotearoa.”<\/p>\n
![\"Network](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/4PGL9LM_20150419_122302940_iOS_jpg.jpeg\")
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\nNetwork Waitangi Whang\u0101rei member and Educator Ngaire Ray says enrollments have tripled over the past year.
\nPhoto: Layla Bailey-McDowell \/ RNZ\n<\/p>\n
Kathryn McKenzie, a P\u0101keh\u0101 Treaty educator who has been running workshops for 32 years, said many people were only now beginning to learn a history they were not taught at school.<\/p>\n
“If it was happening in our schools, we wouldn’t need to be here. If our people knew our history, we wouldn’t need to be here,” she said.<\/p>\n
“We’ve got a history of colonisation, and we have for many, many years tried to hide it. And that doesn’t create stable partnership if we don’t acknowledge our past.”<\/p>\n
McKenzie said Treaty education gained momentum following the 1981 Springbok Tour protests, when P\u0101keh\u0101 protesters were challenged by M\u0101ori activists to “go and educate your people” about racism and Te Tiriti.<\/p>\n
Project Waitangi emerged from that period of activism, alongside other anti-racism movements. It later became Network Waitangi, with autonomous regional groups continuing the education kaupapa to this day.<\/p>\n
The group describes itself as an independent, voluntary community organisation providing information, education and support to help people understand and implement Te Tiriti o Waitangi.<\/p>\n
McKenzie said people attending workshops included P\u0101keh\u0101, M\u0101ori and newer migrants – often referred to as tangata Tiriti – who had come to Aotearoa after 1840.<\/p>\n
“Everybody needs to learn because they’ve all come through the standard education system where the Treaty has not been taught,” she said.<\/p>\n
She said terms such as “P\u0101keh\u0101” and “Tangata Tiriti” were often misunderstood.<\/p>\n
“Tangata Tiriti, we’re the partners that signed the Treaty. Because we have signed the Treaty, that was what gave us permission to settle here.”<\/p>\n
![\"Tangata](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/4KGU4TB_Annie_and_Carol_in_Dargaville_jpg_1.jpeg\")
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\nTangata Tiriti Annie and Carol attend the nationwide activation h\u012bkoi m\u014d Te Tiriti in Dargarville.
\nPhoto: Layla Bailey-McDowell \/ RNZ\n<\/p>\n
Recent national data suggests the growing interest in Treaty education reflects wider public attitudes.<\/p>\n
![\"Network](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/4PGLA0D_20150419_121411500_iOS_jpg.jpeg\")
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