The Treaty of Waitangi settlement agreed putting Ngāi Tahu in the Crown in November 1997, and acknowledged the rangatiratanga and mana of Ngāi Tahu over their lands—also acknowledged by Environment Canterbury—and affirmed their special association with the natural environment in a number of areas. And Selwyn District Council drew attention to part of the Crown apology read earlier, delivered when the Crown sought to begin the process of healing and to enter a new age of cooperation with Ngāi Tahu.