Cletus Maanu Paul

Teacher, Māori activist

• Born: November 18, 1938
• Birthplace: Murupara, New Zealand
• Died: September 15, 2022
• Place of death: New Zealand

Also known as: Maanu Paul, Cletus Maanu Paroa

Significance: Cletus Maanu Paul was a New Zealand Māori teacher and activist. He served on the New Zealand Māori Council for years, working on land, fisheries and forestry claims. Among other things, he negotiated a 1992 fisheries agreement that included a $150 million payment from the New Zealand government to the Māori.

Background

Cletus Maanu Paul was born in Murupara, New Zealand, on November 18, 1938. He was born as Cletus Maanu Paroa but his name was anglicized to Paul when he was a boy. He lived in Murupara until his mother died when he was seven. Paul was then raised by both of his grandmothers, who taught him about growing food according to Māori tradition. They also provided him knowledge of the taiao, the traditional Māori term for the natural world. Paul first lived with his paternal grandmother in Waiohau on New Zealand’s North Island before moving to nearby Poroporo to live with his maternal grandmother and attend intermediate school. Under her tutelage, Paul became an accomplished gardener, leaning how to use the traditional Māori lunar calendar as a guide for planting and harvesting. He grew numerous organic fruits and vegetables.

Paul initially worked as a surveyor before earning a teaching certificate from Hamilton Teachers’ College in 1974. He went on to earn a diploma of teaching in 1976 and a bachelor of social science from the University of Auckland in 1977.

Life’s Work

Paul taught at a number of secondary schools from 1975 to 1980. In his first teaching job at Hamilton Boys High School, he and his students joined the Māori Land March, a 1975 protest march across the North Island to the nation’s capital of Wellington. More than five thousands protesters called for the return of traditional Māori land taken by European colonizers in the pervious centuries.

Over the years, Paul would continue in a number of roles within the educational sector. He was a teaching fellow in 1981 and was a liaison tutor at Waiariki Polytechnic in Tokoroa, New Zealand, from 1982 to 1984. In 1984, he came to the United States as a Fulbright Scholar, studying at various universities and community colleges. From 1985 to 1988, he was the continuing education officer for New Zealand’s Department of Education. In 1987, he was a guest lecturer at the Indigenous Peoples’ World Conference on Education at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. His paper on tribal strategies for survival was published in the conference journal. During the 1990s, Paul published numerous papers on Māori rights. From 1989 to 1993, he served as a lecturer on bicultural education at the University of Waikato in New Zealand.

Paul joined the New Zealand Māori Council in 1964 and served as executive chair of the council from 1997 to 2002. The Māori Council was created in 1962 to act as the voice of the Māori people in New Zealand’s government. During Paul’s time on the council, he worked on a number of land, fisheries and forestry claims.

Paul devoted much of his time to studying the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi, a document between the British and Māori leaders that gave Great Britian sovereignty over New Zealand in return for guaranteeing the Māori the rights to their traditional lands. The terms and legality of the treaty have been debated since its signing.

In 1992, he negotiated the Sealord Deal, a Māori fisheries claim that gave the Māori a 50 percent stake in the Sealord fishing company and protected Māori fishing rights. The deal included a $150 million payment from the New Zealand government to the Māori. Paul was also involved in another claim over the recognition and protection of the cultural and intellectual rights of the Māori over native plants and animals. Known as the WAI 262 claim, the 1991 agreement concerns the misappropriation of traditional Māori flora and fauna, which they refer to as taonga, or “treasures.”

Impact

Paul devoted his life to advancing Māori peoples through his work on the council and negotiating fisheries and forestry claims. During his life, he was always at the forefront of promoting Māori issues. In 2019, he was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his services to the Māori.

Personal Life

Paul was married to his wife, Gwenda, with whom he had four children. He also had numerous grandchildren. Paul enjoyed organic farming and ran a twenty-acre organic kiwifruit orchard and vegetable garden at his Ohope Beach home. Paul was diagnosed with cancer in 2013 and underwent major surgery. He recovered and continued to be active in his gardening and advocacy pursuits into the 2020s. He remained in the public eye until shortly before his death in September 2022. He was eighty-three.

Bibliography

“Cletus Maanu Paul.” Kōmako, www.komako.org.nz/person/758. Accessed 27 June 2023.

“Cletus PAUL Obituary.” Legacy.com, 2022, www.legacy.com/nz/obituaries/bayofplentytimes-nz/name/cletus-paul-obituary?id=39780440. Accessed 27 June 2023.

“Maanu Paul a fighter for Māori rights.” WaateaNews.com, 15 Sept. 2022, waateanews.com/2022/09/15/maanu-paul-a-fighter-for-maori-rights/. Accessed 27 June 2023.

“Māori rights advocate, academic Maanu Paul dies at 83.” RNZ, 16 Sept. 2022, www.rnz.co.nz/news/te-manu-korihi/474882/maori-rights-advocate-academic-maanu-paul-dies-at-83. Accessed 27 June 2023.

“Poroporoaki: Cletus Maanu Paul (ONZM).” Scoop Media, 17 Sept. 2022, www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA2209/S00091/poroporoaki-cletus-maanu-paul-onzm.htm. Accessed 27 June 2023.

Wikaire-Lewis, Mana. “Māori Rights Advocate Maanu Paul Dies; Tukaki Recalls His Mentor.” Te Ao Māori News, 15 Sept. 2022, www.teaomaori.news/maori-rights-advocate-maanu-paul-dies-tukaki-recalls-his-mentor. Accessed 27 June 2023.

“Paul, Cletus Maanu, Active 1994–2012.” Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa National Library of New Zealand, natlib.govt.nz/records/22513739. Accessed 27 June 2023.