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Waitangi Day marks the first signing of New Zealand's founding document: The Treaty of Waitangi or Te Tiriti o Waitangi in Māori.

The holiday, known as Waitangi Day, is held on Feb. 6 to mark the anniversary of the Treaty of Waitangi, a foundation document signed by British colonists and Maori chiefs in 1840 that establishes and guides the relationship between New Zealand’s government and its Indigenous population.

He first paddled on the river in a traditional Māori long canoe in 1979, when he and about 20 co-workers at a slaughterhouse got together for a regatta on Waitangi Day, commemorating the 1840 treaty signed between the British and Māori.

In years past, many would protest on the Waitangi Day for civil and social rights, criticising successive governments for not doing enough.

Waitangi Day is named for the region on the North Island where representatives of the British Crown and more than 500 indigenous Maori chiefs signed a founding treaty in 1840.