Te Toi Ahorangi Strategy Public Engagement | Page 10

Te T$i oToi
THE MULTITUDES OF TOI
For generations Te Tini o Toi - the many multitudes of Toi
flourished within an abundance inherited from Ranginui and
Papatūānuku.
To i w a s a t o h u n g a s t e e p e d i n
indigenous wisdom and knowledge. An
expert navigator, leader and master of
the natural environment, Toi is a
founding ancestor of Te Moana ā Toi.
Referred by some as Toi Kairākau, the
forest feeding people - or to others, as
Toi te Huatahi, the man of the first fruits.
generations. This was a time when we
as descendants of Toi had complete
tino rangatiratanga over our lives. A time
when we were the land, and the land
was us. When Europeans first came to
Aotearoa, our life expectancy was the
equivalent to some of the most
privileged societies in the world.

The Toroa, the great albatross renowned
for travelling vast distances, was one of
the kaitiaki that guided Toi on his many
voyages. In this strategy, Toi is
embodied as our kaitiaki, guiding us as
we voyage towards Toi Ora.
The legacies of Toi continue to live on
amongst the many multitudes of his
descendants today. We acknowledge
that just as there are many multitudes of
Toi, there are many faces of flourishing.

Descendants of Toi were immersed in
our ways of knowing and being, where
the personification of us as people was
spiritually manifested in the embodiment
of the land. Our language carried ngā
tāonga tuku iho and we moved naturally
in our surroundings - sustainably
sourcing, preserving and preparing
whole foods and medicines from our
great ocean and forest domains.

Our ancestral teachings were
embedded in our māramataka, enabling
us to live by the sun, the moon, the
stars and the seasons. Our lives were
oriented around the survival and
flourishing of our people throughout the
We are inspired by the question of what
it means to be flourishing and what we
must do differently to impact whānau,
hapū and iwi living in Te Moana ā Toi.

The Māori population of Te Moana ā Toi
is an estimated 56,500, comprising 25%
of the total Bay of Plenty population - of
which more than half are aged under 24
years. We estimate that close to half of
all babies born each year are Māori.

By 2036, the Māori population is
predicted to increase to just under one
third (75,600) of the regions’ total
population.

10 | Te Toi Ahorangi 2030 Draft Māori Health Strategy