Part of the country’s third hui ā-motu will see kaikōrero from representatives from Canadian First Nation people speak about indigenous economics.

Māori leader, Tā Mark Solomon (Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Kurī), said their attendance is hugely beneficial.

“I think it’s hugely beneficial for us to listen to what they’re doing.”

He went on to talk about an example of the relationship he’s previously made with Natives from Kodiak Island, Alaska, USA, who had a kōrero with him and Tukoroirangi Morgan about investments in phone company 2 Degrees.

“I invited 2Degrees to come to see Ngāi Tahu, they presented to our chief executive of our holdings at the end of it, he said, hey, this is pretty good, send me all your documentation so that I can do a full due diligence, and I’ll put a proposal to the board that we buy in.

“That was four years ago, we haven’t heard back from them since,” he said.

This would then lead to the Kodiak Island chief talking about doing a partnership with the South Island iwi.

“He goes to me, so, Mark, you’re a fishing people of the South Island of New Zealand, How about a deal? We’re a fishing people of the northern hemisphere we’ll supply you with the four top species from our area, [and] how about you supply us with the four top species from yours and we’ll niche market [it] in our respective countries. But what we’d really like [is to] have six of your kids. Send them up here for six months and we’ll put them through our companies. Would you take six of ours and we’ll keep rotating so our children get to learn what indigenous peoples at either end of the world do,” the chief said to the Māori leader.

Solomon called it an exciting opportunity for the iwi.

‘We are a powerhouse’

With the biggest kaupapa at Tuesday’s event being the Māori economy, Solomon said Māori would be a “powerhouse” if they all combined.

“It’s always been my dream that if we do come together, you know, economically together we’re a huge powerhouse in this country. Individually we’re big players in our own community.

“We’re all trying to build an economic base, we’re all trying to look after the social and cultural aspects as they affect our whānau and we’re all trying to protect our respective rohe.

“If we’re all doing the same things while we’re all doing it in isolation of each other, it doesn’t make sense to me. We come together, we are a powerhouse.”

‘We need to be united’

With many people from across the motu gathering at Tuahiwi Marae in Waitaha Canterbury, Solomon said for Māori to progress, they need to keep going.

“We’ve gotta keep going, keep talking about how we come together, how we work together, how we support each other. All this nonsense that’s going on with this government today and all the different attacks that are coming.

“We need to be united in our stance against it.

“We need to be speaking to it constantly, not just sitting back and letting it happen and then have a big panic at the end of the process.”