What Kiwis Don't Know About the Treaty
Only a third of NZers know the year the Treaty of Waitangi was signed, a survey probing how much Kiwis know about the Treaty has found. The UMR research was commissioned by the Treaty of Waitangi information unit, based in the State Services Commission, which is running the Treaty information programme.
The research consisted of a survey of 750 people and five detailed focus groups conducted in late February, a couple of months before the launch of the Treaty website. It was carried out to get an idea of where people's knowledge of the Treaty stood and how information could be delivered.
The survey showed people do not know as much about the Treaty as they think they do. More than half thought they knew a lot or a fair amount, but only 34 percent were able to correctly name the year the Treaty was signed - 1840. Even fewer - 28 percent - knew Governor Hobson had signed it on behalf of the Crown. One percent thought Queen Victoria did the deed, but most did not know. Just under half of respondents (47 percent) were able to nominate that the body responsible for hearing Treaty of Waitangi claims was the Waitangi Tribunal. The comments in the focus groups showed a similarly mixed level of knowledge. Though some were well informed, people generally only knew snippets.
Asked why there was a treaty, most people identified protection as a key theme, the British wanting to keep the French out or Maori needing protection from settlers. Others felt there was an element of wanting to do the right thing.
Most were aware of the Maori and English texts and the discrepancies between them, though vague about their exact nature. Some identified key terms, such as sovereignty, kawanatanga and rangatiratanga, but had little idea what they meant. A focus group of Maori had a similar level - or lack - of knowledge.
People expressed a desire for factual, unbiased information in simple language. Most respondents said the Treaty was shrouded in conflict.
Other Findings
Interest in the Treaty. Levels of interest in finding out more about the Treaty were evenly split, with 36 percent of respondents generally interested in finding out more about the Treaty, while another 36 percent were generally not interested. However, most respondents (57 percent) considered that finding out more about the Treaty would be beneficial for NZ as a whole.
Interest in specific Treaty topics. In the quantitative survey, respondents who expressed interest in finding out more about the Treaty were read a list of Treaty topics. The topic that these respondents were most interested in finding out more about was, "what the Treaty means to NZ today" with 73 percent of these respondents expressing interest. Across those interested in finding out more about the Treaty, the following levels of interest were recorded for other specific Treaty topics:
- "what were the expectations of the parties who signed the Treaty" (68 percent total interested);
- "why there are historical Treaty settlements today" (67 percent total interested);
- "whether the Treaty has been honoured or breached and in what ways" (66 percent total interested);
- "what the Treaty said" (65 percent total interested);
- "why there was a Treaty" (61 percent total interested); and
- "a time line of the major Treaty based events from signing to the present day" (55 percent total interested).
Current access to Treaty information. The main source of Treaty information for focus group respondents was the media. Other sources included: formal training (tertiary and work), word-of-mouth, migrant information packs, government and books.
Having the media as a key source of Treaty information for the general public was viewed as problematic. Respondents noted that media representations of the Treaty focused on polarised views and gave little robust information for the wider public to base their views on. The focus group research identified several barriers that worked against fostering greater Treaty awareness and which caused people to shy away from the issues:
- Treaty issues were generally associated with confrontation and conflict;
- there is a perceived lack of accessible and neutral Treaty information available;
- there was a sense of Treaty fatigue; and
- other ethnic groups feel excluded (constructed as a Pakeha/ Maori issue).
This report, "Treaty of Waitangi Awareness Research - A Qualitative and Quantitative Study", can be accessed on the State Services Commission website at www.ssc.govt.nz and from the Treaty of Waitangi website at www.treatyofwaitangi.govt.nz
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