Once the Waitangi Tribunal has accepted and registered your claim, the Tribunal will start the process of assessing the claim. The Tribunal will contact you (the claimant or claimants), citing the claim’s assigned ‘Wai’ number (short for Waitangi Tribunal claim number). The Crown and interested parties will also be notified of the claim.
If the claim submitted is similar to other claims, the claims may be grouped together into a kaupapa inquiry process so they can all be heard at once. For example, claims relating to electoral issues, flora and fauna, forestry ownership, fisheries, and broadcasting have been heard in this way.
After the relevant people are all notified, there’s a stage where research is done by the Tribunal, the claimants and the Crown.
Then hearings are held so that the Tribunal can hear evidence from you to support your claim, as well as evidence from the Crown. During a hearing, evidence is usually given by iwi members, lawyers, and historians or other specialists. Tribunal members listen to the evidence, and consider whether and how the principles of te Tiriti may have been breached.
When it’s finished assessing the claim, the Tribunal will release its findings and recommendations in the form of a report. The claimants and the Crown can then consider how they will respond to the Tribunal’s report.
The Tribunal’s report can be used by the government to negotiate an agreement with the claimants, called a Treaty settlement.