A Bay of Island hapū has rejected the crown's proposed Ngāpuhi treaty settlement model.
Photo: Supplied
Treaty Negotiations Minister, Andrew Little, presented a new negotiations model to hapū across the north in August that outlined how the settlement could move forward.
But Ngāti Manu is the first of Ngapuhi's 110 sub-tribes to reject it.
Representatives from the hapū met with Andrew Little yesterday and made it clear the proposal didn't fit how they wanted to progress their claim
Ngāti Manu representative, Phoebe Aroha Davis, said the crown must deal with hapū separately, and they are willing to wait to settle in order for that to happen.
"It doesn't fit our rangatiratanga even if you look at the model there is examples of ways to do better according to them but in terms of the way we feel, we have not been in discussions with them because we've always sat on the outside and rowed our own waka."
Andrew Little has warned settling with each individual hapū could mean the process could take several years.
However, that doesn't worry members of Ngāti Manu.
"Those are scaremongering tactics to say we could be waiting forever and we could be, and we accept that, but just because there is a piece of paper that says they've got our land, in our hearts and minds those are our lands and we continue to talk about it in our whakapapa and history." Ms Davis said.
What is being proposed doesn't fit in the way they want to progress their claim and how they see hapū rangatiratanga, she said.