20th November, 2024

To our sisters and brothers of PCC Member Churches and wider Aotearoa whānau of the Pasifika Household of God:

LETTER OF SOLIDARITY AND SUPPORT FOR TE TIRITI O WAITANGI AND THE ISSUE OF THE “TREATY PRINCIPLES” BILL

Grace and peace to you in the name of Jesus, the Christ of the Islands!

As many of you joined the hikoi to Parliament yesterday in support of Te Tiriti o Waitangi  to speak out against the Treaty Principles Bill, the Pacific Conference of Churches Executive Committee, meeting for its second day in Suva, Fiji were holding you in our hearts. The recent statement by our member church Te Hāhi Weteriana o Aotearoa / Methodist Church in New Zealand, was received and reflected on by the Executive Committee which expressed their concern over both the social, political and cultural implications of this Bill.

The Pacific Conference of Churches is very disturbed over the possible neocolonial intentions behind this Bill, which is being pushed under the guise of human rights and equality, which neglect the inequity of the historic implications of colonisation, ongoing socio-economic disadvantages and can be seen through the recent removal of legal mechanisms to recognise Māori rights, cessation of work around the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the dismantling of the Māori Health Authority.

The Pacific Conference of Churches Executive Committee resolved to share with you our solidarity and our prayers for you and our commitment of support to ensure that, “the principles of Te Tiriti are upheld and lived out in all spheres of society, affirming our faith in the transformative power of justice and covenantal partnership.” As we prepare to mark Christ the King Sunday, we find affirmation in the justice, the equity, the wellbeing – the peace that God has promised.

We call on the New Zealand Government to listen deeply to the cry of the Tangata Whenua and ensure that their actions preserve the mana of a nation that so often is a light in the blue Pacific continent and the world.

The Executive Committee has further resolved to call on our 35 member churches and 11 national councils of churches across the 19 Pacific Island Countries and territories to mark the Sunday before 6th February (which next falls on Sunday 2nd February 2025) as Te Tiriti Sunday.

This is a call for prayers for the Māori people of Aotearoa New Zealand and an opportunity to highlight Te Tiriti o Waitangi (Treaty of Waitangi) and issues facing Māori, as well as the Pasifika communities of Aotearoa, in our churches. 

May God’s blessings of courage, wisdom and strength be upon you in this crucial work for justice and peace.

Rev. James Shri Bhagwan
General Secretary, Pacific Conference of Churches