Shifting Ground

Reflecting on a Journey of Bicultural Partnership

Abstract

The return to Otautahi | Christchurch in 2015 provided an opportune moment for us to participate, observe, ponder, and reflect on the partnership agreement between Waka Oranga and the New Zealand Association of Psychotherapists (NZAP). Otautahi is significant as the place where, in 2009, the membership of the NZAP voted for a constitutional change which recognised Waka Oranga, an allied Māori organisation, as its bicultural Treaty partner. This article reflects on a journey taken thus far and discusses the shifting ground that emerges as a consequence of bicultural partnership, specifically with the NZAP which is predominantly Pākehā and Tau Iwi. The opinions expressed are based on the authors’ personal experiences and engagement with both Waka Oranga and the NZAP.

Waitara

I te hokinga ki Ōtautahi i te tau 2015, ka whai wāhanga mātou ki te kōrerorero, ki te titiro, ki te whakahoki whakaaro ki te kirimana rangapū i waenga i a Waka Oranga me te Rōpū Whakaora Hinengaro o Aotearoa (NZAP). Ko Ōtautahi te wāhi, i te tau 2009, i takahurihia ngā ture i te pōtitangahia tōna peka Māori, a Waka Oranga, hei hoa Tiriti kākanorua mōna. He whakahokinga whakaaro tēnei tuhinga ki te hīkoi mai i reira ki konei. Ka matapakihia ngā whakanekenekehanga i ara ake i tēnei hononga kākanorua, inā rā hāngai atu ki te Rōpū Whakaora Hinengaro o Aotearoa (NZAP), tōnā nuinga nei he Pākehā, he tauiwi. Nāku, nā te kaituhi ngā whakaaro o tēnei tuhinga, ā, koi nei ōku wheako whaiaro i a au e hīkoi haere ana i roto i a Waka Oranga me te Rōpū Whakaora Hinengaro o Aotearoa.