Perhaps one of the greatest struggles in indigenous communities today is the laws that oversee their affairs but do not incorporate their own intrinsic values. Western society has become so accustomed to a worldview developed through sets of values such as Christianity that it becomes difficult to separate these perspectives from our every day lives. But not all peoples hold the same values, including the Maori in New Zealand.
Recently, New Zealand attorney general Chris Finlayson worked on agreements between the New Zealand government and various Maori groups to enable a swath of land or entire body of water to be granted personhood in the eyes of New Zealand law.
“In [the Maori] worldview,” stated Finlayson,”‘I am the river and the river is me’. Their geographic region is part and parcel of who they are.”
This idea seems foreign to those who view “personhood” as something that belongs only to a human being. But in a worldview that sees spirituality and what constitutes as living in a different light than what many Westerners see, this definition applies to traditional lands is completely logical.
The former national park, Te Urewera, existed from 1954 to 2015 and consisted of 821 square miles of North Island. Recently, the Te Urewera Act took effect so that the government abandoned its formal ownership and the land became its own legal entity, including having “all the rights, powers, duties, and liabilities of a legal person” per the statute that was passed. In other words, the park was granted personhood; a river system is expected to receive the same designation soon, once it passes Parliament.
This classifications seem like “unusual designations” for those accustomed to non-Maori worldview, yet the legal status is similar to that of corporations who are also not an individual human being. The decision to grant personhood was a “profound alternative to the human presumption of sovereignty over the natural world,” according to Pita Sharples, the minister of Maori affairs when the law passed. The settlement resolved the ongoing argument between New Zealand government and Maori groups over the guardianship of natural features within the country.
One great advantage to passing this law for the sake of conservation is the power it gives to the land itself. Lawsuits to protect the land can be brought on behalf of the land itself without any need to demonstrate how a human being is impacted while defending the land’s protection.
The river set to receive similar status is the Whanganui River, the third longest river in New Zealand. To the Maori, it is “an invisible and living whole, comprising the river and all tributaries from the mountains to the sea – and that’s what we are giving effect to through this settlement,” according to Mr. Finalyson.
These new designations do not mean people cannot still enjoy Te Urewera like when it was a national park; it simply means special permits for activities like hunting must be issued through a new board that represents the river. This board will consist of both government and Maori representatives.
The hope now is that this landmark decision will set precedent for other indigenous communities around the world whose worldviews and cultural paradigms are not being incorporated into the laws that govern their traditional and sacred sites. Finlayon has already began discussions with Canada’s new attorney general, Jody Wilson-Raybould, on how these concepts can be written into Canadian law.
Will Canada be next?