Settlements acknowledge historical claims (including breaches of the Treaty and the various effects of this wrongdoing on Māori), and offer a settlement package that includes financial compensation and other measures to address the harm that was done.
Past settlements have enhanced iwi cultural and commercial development, including for Waikato Tainui, Ngāi Tahu, and Ngāti Whātua ki Ōrākei. The settlements have helped to restore the economic base of iwi and, more broadly, to create mechanisms to protect iwi and Māori interests.
Recently we have seen iwi get innovative through settlements – for example, obtaining legal recognition for both Te Urewera and the Whanganui River as legal “persons”. Granting legal personality to awa, maunga or rohe in this way is intended to give iwi the legal right and means to protect them (see the chapter “Māori land”, under “Legal personality for maunga, awa and other natural features of the land”).
Settlement negotiations are facilitated by Te Arawhiti: The Office for Māori−Crown Relations. Each settlement is different, to acknowledge and address different forms of loss, but they almost always include:
an account of what happened in the past, or the substance of a breach in a contemporary claim
a written apology by the Crown
some form of compensation or other redress, usually including money and, if land was confiscated, the return of Crown-owned land.