Thousands of protesters including Māori warriors in traditional dress marched on New Zealand’s parliament Tuesday in opposition to a draft law that they say would erode the rights of indigenous people.

Equality, though, is still a way off, says Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, co-leader of Te Pāti Māori (Maori Party). “We can’t live equally if we have one people who are the indigenous people living ‘less than’,” she argues. What the coalition ...