On 16 January 2005 during a powhiri (greeting ceremony) which formed part of a Waitangi Tribunal hearing, Iti fired a shotgun into a flag—reputedly an Australian flag, used as a substitute for a New Zealand flag—in close proximity to a large number of people. Iti explained this act as an attempt to recreate the 1860s East Cape War: "We wanted them to feel the heat and smoke, and Tūhoe outrage and disgust at the way we have been treated for 200 years."