3 backing of international human rights law.  I refer to the right of persons who belong to an ethnic, religious, or linguistic minority, in community with other members of that minority, to enjoy the culture, to profess and practice the religion, or to use the language of that minority.² What we need to note however, is that the rights claimed for each category of cultural group, are not the same.  We might start with the founding cultures beginning with that of say, the British in New Zealand.  The first concern is for the maintenance of cultural identity.  This may not be openly addressed in a sober way but can erupt in crude comments as in references to the number of Asians on Queen Street.  The second concern may be to maintain the inherited system of government to which all citizens are expected to subscribe.  That too is a particular form of cultural manifestation.  So far, the New Zealand system of government is not constitutionally entrenched.   The prospect of identity loss is likely to be more pressing for such founding minorities as the French Canadians.   However, their concerns have now been recognised, and having been recognised they can now be provided for in ways that will hopefully provide some relief.      The indigenous have a bundle of distinctive claims that may be seen as the natural consequences of their indigenous status.  Indeed for most legal purposes their rights derive not from their culture but from their existence as political entities before the state’s establishment.   Accordingly they claim rights of self-government within the state.  They seek respect and support for their customs and culture, not merely state indifference or tolerance.  In the multi-cultural environment of today they are further unique in that they have no safe, cultural base, no mother country where their culture is perpetuated as the norm.    Australia and New Zealand are also hosts to unique cultural groupings from the Pacific Islands.  It is likely that the culture of some of these groups will survive only on our soil, especially with global warming.  Their culture is like an endangered                                                 2 Article 27 International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights and in New Zealand, s 20 New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990.