Moana Jackson

File:Headshot of Moana Jackson at TEU lectern.jpg event in 2015]]

Jackson was born in Hastings, and was one of six children of Everard Jackson, an All Black rugby player, and Hineaka (Janey) Cunningham.{{cite web | url= http://media.api.aucklandmuseum.com/id/media/public/788c1ca9-1907-4d55-8544-fb33a88e6e2f/original.pdf | title=Jackson dynasty lives on | date=16 October 2012 | work=Gisborne Herald | first=Iain | last=Gillies | page=25 |via=Online Cenotaph |access-date=7 July 2022}}{{cite news |last1=Tahana |first1=Jamie |title=Moana Jackson tangi: Thousands pay their respects |url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/464562/moana-jackson-tangi-thousands-pay-their-respects |access-date=4 April 2022 |work=Radio New Zealand |date=3 April 2022}} His older brother was activist Syd Jackson. He was affiliated with the iwi of Ngāti Kahungunu on his mother's side and Ngāti Porou on his father's side. He attended Mayfair Primary School and Hastings Intermediate, and from 1959 to 1963 he attended Hastings Boys' High School, where he was a prefect in his last year.{{cite news |last1=Laing |first1=Doug |title=Iwi mourns Moana Jackson: 'No one in Kahungunu above him' |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/hawkes-bay-today/news/iwi-mourns-moana-jackson-no-one-in-kahungunu-above-him/KCJNSGJI4D7IDNJS54G26SGEAI/ |access-date=31 March 2022 |work=The New Zealand Herald |date=31 March 2022}} He graduated in law and criminology at Victoria University of Wellington, and after a short period in practice took up the teaching of the Māori language. He then undertook further study in the United States, attending Arizona State University.{{Cite web|title=Moana Jackson|url=https://www.komako.org.nz/person/391|url-status=dead|access-date=22 September 2021|website=Komako |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220307100816/https://www.komako.org.nz/person/391 |archive-date=7 March 2022}}

Jackson died on 31 March 2022 at Waimana after a long illness,{{Cite news |title=Esteemed Māori leader Dr Moana Jackson dies |url= https://www.1news.co.nz/2022/03/30/esteemed-maori-leader-dr-moana-jackson-dies/ |access-date=31 March 2022 | date=31 March 2022 |work=1 News}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/te-manu-korihi/464388/moana-jackson-a-gentle-giant-who-stood-tall-for-justice-reform|title=Moana Jackson: A 'gentle giant' who stood tall for justice reform|date=31 March 2022|work=Radio New Zealand |access-date=1 April 2022}} just three days after his sister-in-law, Dame June Jackson. His tangi (traditional funeral) took place at Matahiwi Marae.{{cite news |title=WATCH: Dr Moana Jackson brought onto Hawke's Bay marae for tangi |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/watch-dr-moana-jackson-brought-onto-hawkes-bay-marae-for-tangi/4UNGM44QW6R2U6FRETW4TUTBVA/ |access-date=2 April 2022 |work=Hawkes Bay Today |date=1 April 2022}} He requested that women be able to speak on the marae at his tangi, a role usually reserved for men.{{cite news |last1=Sherman |first1=Maiki |title=Moana Jackson's dying wish for women to speak on marae |url=https://www.1news.co.nz/2022/04/01/moana-jacksons-dying-wish-for-women-to-speak-on-marae/ |access-date=2 April 2022 |work=1 News |date=1 April 2022}} On Jackson's death, a number of well-known New Zealanders paid him tribute including Marama Davidson (co-leader of the Green Party), academics Margaret Mutu and Khylee Quince, and writer Tina Makereti.{{Cite news|url=https://thespinoff.co.nz/atea/31-03-2022/moe-mai-ra-moana-jackson-1945-22|title=Moe mai rā: Moana Jackson, 1945-2022|date=31 March 2022|work=The Spinoff |access-date=1 April 2022}} New Zealand's prime minister Jacinda Ardern said:{{cite news |last1=Neilson |first1=Michael |title=MPs pay tribute to Dr Moana Jackson, Māori lawyer, scholar and activist; Willie Jackson mourns loss of uncle and mother in same week |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/mps-pay-tribute-to-dr-moana-jackson-maori-lawyer-scholar-and-activist-willie-jackson-mourns-loss-of-uncle-and-mother-in-same-week/63O6Q3MFD3B6W4EL2VNK6US62E/ |access-date=2 April 2022 |work=The New Zealand Herald |date=31 March 2022}}

{{blockquote|Moana Jackson was well-known domestically and internationally for his expertise in indigenous issues. He was incredibly generous with his time and sharing of his knowledge, storytelling and gentle approach. He will have left a mark on an entire generation and beyond.}}

After returning to New Zealand from his study in the United States, Jackson conducted research for the New Zealand Department of Justice. As part of this work he wrote Māori and the Criminal Justice System: A New Perspective, He Whaipaanga Hou published in 1988.{{Cite web|title=Maori and the Criminal Justice System: A New Perspective, He Whaipaanga Hou|url=https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/maori-and-criminal-justice-system-new-perspective-he-whaipaanga-hou|access-date=22 September 2021|website=Office of Justice Programs}} In this report he argued that without changes to the criminal justice system Māori people would experience worse outcomes and discrimination.{{Cite news|last=Godfrey |first=Morgan |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/31/moana-jackson-obituary-the-most-articulate-original-and-forceful-intellectual-of-his-generation |title=Moana Jackson was the most articulate, original and forceful intellectual of his generation |date=31 March 2022 |work=The Guardian |access-date=1 April 2022}} He was the first person to argue that an alternative justice system would be more appropriate for Māori.{{cite web |title=2021 Companions |url=https://www.royalsociety.org.nz/assets/2021-companions-nga-takahoa-a-te-aparangi-digital-V2-spreads.pdf |website=Royal Society of New Zealand Te Apārangi |access-date=2 April 2022}} {{As of|2022}} the report continues to be influential in New Zealand legal policy.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newsroom.co.nz/ideasroom/page/moana-jackson-groundbreaking|title=Moana Jackson, a leader of mana and intellect|date=31 March 2022|work=Newsroom|access-date=1 April 2022}} In 1987 he co-founded Ngā Kaiwhakamarama i Ngā Ture (the Māori Legal Service) and as of 2021 was a director of the organisation.{{cite news |last1=McConnell |first1=Glenn |title=Moana Jackson, a leading voice on law and Māori rights, has died |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/pou-tiaki/300554741/moana-jackson-a-leading-voice-on-law-and-mori-rights-has-died |access-date=1 April 2022 |work=Stuff |date=31 March 2022}} In 1989 he began preparing a claim to the Waitangi Tribunal supporting Māori rights over native plants and animals. The claim was unique as being made on behalf of all Māori rather than individual iwi. The claim was lodged in 1991 and in its 2011 report the Tribunal concluded that conservation should be co-managed by a partnership between Māori and the Crown.{{cite news |last1=Sutherland |first1=Oliver |title=He poroporoakī, Moana Jackson |url=https://www.newsroom.co.nz/he-poroporoaki-moana-jackson |access-date=2 April 2022 |work=Newsroom |date=1 April 2022}}{{cite news |title=Wai 262 claim |url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2492727/wai-262-claim |access-date=2 April 2022 |work=Radio New Zealand |date=4 July 2011}}

His overseas work included leading the Indigenous Peoples caucus of the working group that drafted the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.{{Cite web|title=Speakers – Te Piringa: University of Waikato|url=https://www.waikato.ac.nz/law/news-events-archive/undrip-symposium/speakers|access-date=22 September 2021|website=The University of Waikato Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato}} In 1993 he was a judge on the International Tribunal of Indigenous Rights in Hawaii and again in 1995 in Canada. During the Bougainville peace process Jackson was counsel for the Bougainville Interim Government.

Jackson was a vocal critic of the New Zealand government's foreshore and seabed legislation in 2004.{{Cite journal|title=Pākia ki uta, pākia ki tai. Ministerial Review of the Foreshore and Seabed Act 2004|url=https://www.beehive.govt.nz/sites/default/files/24845%20Vol-1%20online%5B6%5D%5B1%5D.pdf|journal=Ministerial Review of the Foreshore and Seabed Act 2004|publisher=Ministerial Review Panel (New Zealand)|volume=1}} He was also a vocal critic of the October 2007 police 'terror' raids. He resigned as patron of the Police Recruit Wing 244 due to his opposition to how the raids were conducted and his view that they were racially motivated, for example by treating the predominantly Māori community of Ruatoki more harshly than the predominantly Pākehā (New Zealand European) suburb of Brooklyn, Wellington.{{cite web|title=Jackson resigns as police patron over raids|url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/kahu/jackson-resigns-as-police-patron-over-raids/ISXN6GJDOEU3L7BMHJDHNGZRMI/|date=10 November 2007|work=The New Zealand Herald |access-date=1 April 2022}} In 2009 at Omahu Marae in Hastings he said: "Those who take power unjustly defend it with injustice."{{Cite web|date=31 January 2009|title=Maori resistance not terrorism – Moana Jackson|url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/30691/Maori-resistance-not-terrorism-Moana-Jackson|access-date=30 January 2022|website=Stuff |language=en}}

In 2016 he led the Matike Mai Aotearoa working group on constitutional reform in New Zealand. The group's report was published on Waitangi Day in 2016, and made a number of recommendations for constitutional change.{{cite news |title=Moana Jackson - a new constitution for Aotearoa |url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday/audio/201821049/moana-jackson-a-new-constitution-for-aotearoa |access-date=31 March 2022 |work=Radio New Zealand |date=23 October 2016}} One recommendation of the report was to develop the ability of Māori to make decisions for Māori, which led to a Māori Constitutional Convention being held in February 2021,{{cite news |last1=Hamilton |first1=Te Huia Bill |title=2021: The year of rangatiratanga, Māori sovereignty |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/pou-tiaki/our-truth/300223558/2021-the-year-of-rangatiratanga-mori-sovereignty |access-date=1 April 2022 |work=Stuff |date=7 February 2021}} at which Jackson gave the keynote speech.{{cite news |title=Matike Mai Constitutional Convention Leading National Discussion For Change |url=https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO2102/S00047/matike-mai-constitutional-convention-leading-national-discussion-for-change.htm |access-date=1 April 2022 |work=Scoop Independent News |date=5 February 2021}}

Jackson lectured at Te Wānanga o Raukawa in Ōtaki on the Ahunga Tīkanga (Māori Laws and Philosophy) degree programme.{{Cite web|title=Ngā Ringa Rauhi|url=https://www.wananga.com/ng%C4%81-ringa-rauhi|access-date=30 January 2022|website=Te Wānanga o Raukawa}}{{Cite web|title=Speaker biographies|url=https://www.drugfoundation.org.nz/news-media-and-events/through-the-maze-just-and-equitable-drug-law-reform/speaker-biographies/|access-date=30 January 2022|website=www.drugfoundation.org.nz|language=en|archive-date=30 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220130085352/https://www.drugfoundation.org.nz/news-media-and-events/through-the-maze-just-and-equitable-drug-law-reform/speaker-biographies/|url-status=dead}} In 1995 he was appointed a visiting fellow in the faculty of law at Victoria University of Wellington. In the early 2010s he chaired a board appointed by the Minister of Education to ensure the survival of Te Aute College, a school with a strong Māori character which was experiencing financial difficulties.{{cite news |last1=Maniapoto |first1=Moana |title=The joys (and trials) of boarding school |url=https://e-tangata.co.nz/comment-and-analysis/the-joys-and-trials-of-boarding-school/ |access-date=2 April 2022 |work=E-Tangata |date=3 October 2015}}{{cite news|title=A new principal for Te Aute |url=https://www.teaomaori.news/new-principal-te-aute |work=Te Ao Māori News |access-date=2 April 2022 |date=26 September 2013}}

Jackson challenged the role of prisons in the criminal justice system and argued that they should never be the only answer, particularly for indigenous people.{{Cite web|last=Jackson|first=Moana|date=14 October 2017|title=Moana Jackson: Prison should never be the only answer|url=https://e-tangata.co.nz/comment-and-analysis/moana-jackson-prison-should-never-be-the-only-answer/|access-date=30 January 2022|website=E-Tangata|language=en-NZ}} He noted that indigenous people traditionally have justice systems that seek to restore "the balance between the wrongdoer and the victim through mediation processes involving sanction and recompense". At a conference in 2018, Jackson said the New Zealand criminal justice system isolates both the perpetrator and the victim from their communities and history. He challenged the notion of one law for all and the Eurocentric approach to crime with the offender viewed as separate from the culture and society they grow up in.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=13 November 2018|title=One law for all or one justice for all?|url=https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/news/2018/11/one-law-for-all-or-one-justice-for-all|access-date=30 January 2022|website=Victoria University of Wellington|language=en}}{{Cite web|title=Māori Victims of Crime – an alternative viewpoint|url=https://ngaitahu.iwi.nz/our_stories/maori-victims-of-crime-an-alternative-viewpoint-tk80/|access-date=30 January 2022|website=Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu|language=en-NZ}}

Jackson highlighted the importance of showing positive portrayals of Māori in the media, as the negative portrayal of Māori may damage their self-worth.{{Cite book|last=Jackson|first=Moana|title=The Maori and the criminal justice system : a new perspective = He whaipaanga hou. Part 1.|publisher=Dept. of Justice. Policy and Research Division.|year=1988}}

File:Moana Jackson and Patsy Reddy hongi.jpg, hongi at the 2017 Māori Women's Welfare League conference]]

In 2017 Jackson was awarded an honorary doctorate from Victoria University of Wellington for his outstanding contribution to legal scholarship around the Treaty and to public debates about how Māori are treated by the justice system and their place in New Zealand society more broadly.{{Cite news|url=https://www.victoria.ac.nz/news/2017/11/moana-jackson-to-receive-honorary-doctorate|title=Moana Jackson to receive honorary doctorate|last=Wellington|first=Victoria University of|date=21 November 2017|work=Victoria University of Wellington|access-date=8 October 2018|language=en}} He refused any formal honours from the New Zealand government, saying he would not accept them unless the Treaty of Waitangi was fully incorporated into New Zealand governance.

In 2021 he was made a Companion of the Royal Society Te Apārangi, recognising his leadership in New Zealand.{{cite web |title=He Poroporoaki ki a Dr Moana Jackson CRSNZ |url=https://www.royalsociety.org.nz/news/he-poroporoaki-ki-a-dr-moana-jackson-crsnz/ |access-date=2 April 2022 |website=Royal Society of New Zealand Te Apārangi}} In May 2021, he was presented with the inaugural Te Whare Pukenga award by the National Iwi Chairs Forum, to recognise his "outstanding contributions as an advocate, facilitator and educator" in relation to the Treaty of Waitangi, human rights and social justice.{{cite news |title=Dr Moana Jackson Recognised For His National Contributions To Whanau, Hapu And Iwi |url=https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO2105/S00070/dr-moana-jackson-recognised-for-his-national-contributions-to-whanau-hapu-and-iwi.htm |access-date=2 April 2022 |work=Scoop Independent News |date=10 May 2021}}{{cite news |title=Dr Moana Jackson recognised for his national contributions to whanau, hapu and iwi with the inaugural presentation of Te Whare Pukenga award |url=https://waateanews.com/2021/05/07/dr-moana-jackson-recognised-for-his-national-contributions-to-whanau-hapu-and-iwi-with-the-inaugural-presentation-of-te-whare-pukenga-award/ |access-date=1 April 2022 |work=Waatea News |date=7 May 2021}}{{cite news |last1=LaHatte |first1=Deborah |title=Māori rights advocate dies |url=https://www.teaomaori.news/maori-rights-advocate-dies |access-date=2 April 2022 |work=Te Ao Māori News |date=31 March 2022}}

• {{cite book |last=Jackson |first=Moana |title=The Maori and the criminal justice system, a new perspective: He whaipaanga hou |url=https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/maori-and-criminal-justice-system-new-perspective-he-whaipaanga-hou |access-date=1 April 2022 |location=Wellington |publisher=Policy and Research Division, Department of Justice |year=1987}}
• {{cite journal |last=Jackson |first=Moana |title=Criminality and the Exclusion of Maori |journal=Victoria University of Wellington Law Review |volume=20 |year=1990 |page=23 |url=https://www6.austlii.edu.au/nz/journals/VUWLawRw/1990/10.pdf |access-date=1 April 2022}}
• {{cite journal |last=Jackson |first=Moana |title=Changing realities: Unchanging trusts |journal=Australian Journal of Law and Society |volume=10 |year= 1994 |page=115 |url=http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/AUJlLawSoc/1994/7.pdf |access-date=1 April 2022}}
• {{cite conference |last=Jackson |first=Moana |title=Restoring the nation: Removing the constancy of terror |book-title=Proceedings of Traditional Knowledge Conference |pages=27–33 |year=2008 |url=http://www.maramatanga.co.nz/sites/default/files/TC-2008.pdf |access-date=1 April 2022}}
• {{cite book |last=Jackson |first=Moana |chapter=Colonization as myth-making: A case study in Aotearoa |title=Being Indigenous |pages=89–101 |publisher=Routledge |year=2018 |isbn=978-0-4294-5477-6}}

{{Reflist}}

• [https://thespinoff.co.nz/books/31-03-2022/moana-jackson-the-art-of-having-faith-in-ourselves "The Art of Having Faith in Ourselves"], excerpt from Jackson's foreword to Toi Tū Toi Ora: Contemporary Māori Art (2022)
• [https://e-tangata.co.nz/comment-and-analysis/moana-jackson-covid-and-the-pandemic-of-colonisation/ "Covid and the Pandemic of Colonisation"], article by Jackson for E-Tangata, 12 December 2021

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Jackson, Moana}}

Category:1945 births

Category:2022 deaths

Category:20th-century New Zealand lawyers

Category:21st-century New Zealand lawyers

Category:Companions of the Royal Society of New Zealand

Moana

Category:Māori activists

Category:Māori studies academics

Category:New Zealand Māori academics

Category:New Zealand Māori lawyers

Category:Ngāti Kahungunu people

Category:Ngāti Porou people

Category:People educated at Hastings Boys' High School

Category:Academic staff of Te Wānanga o-Raukawa

Category:Treaty of Waitangi

Category:Victoria University of Wellington alumni