I just imagine her sailing in front of the ship like Kupe in the cinematic, finding new home to settle in.
Makes land, plops out an anchor baby, sets sail for the next continent.
I think the Maori are also a very clear example of Firaxis' priorities. If they only cared about empires like in V, they would have added an actual empire like Tonga (which also works much better as a sort of proto-Polynesian civ than the Maori). Instead they chose the Polynesian ethnic group with the largest population with a TSL in a much more westernized and populated area. The Maori are much more recognizable and have more quasi-nationalist cultural pride as a consequence of being more populous. Maori or Hawai'i would sell more units than Tonga.
Not really, but
reductio ad absurdum is always fun.
Eh I'm not unhappy with representing modern empires like America, Canada, Australia, Brazil (and India, Ethiopia). The past couple centuries have seen an exponential increase in human technology and culture and having a few civs exemplify that seems fair. Canada represents global diplomacy. America represents conservativism and the media explosion. Australia seems to represent frontier expansionism generally. Brazil is the closest thing to an empire and we really could use more "party" civs.
I think the bigger problem for your camp is not that these civs exist, but that they take up a portion of the roster that isn't dedicated to more culturally rich sections of the map. I think if these civs existed in a roster twice as large, with Ireland, Assyria, Babylon, etc. already accounted for, they would feel more like bonus content than main features.
I of course don't agree with this and think Canada and Australia are....fine. My biggest issue with civs like Gran Colombia and Canada are, again, setting an expectation for certain regions of the world which is not being met in other regions like Africa and Southeast Asia. If we needed two Canadian civs or four South American civs, then we need Berbers and Burma and Bangkok.
They've said that they choose civs because there are demographics in those countries, certainly, and I've made that point several times myself - it's why we have Indonesia and Brazil among others. It's a pretty major stretch to consider that appealing to "nationalist fanbases". I'm not aware of any Canadian nationalist lobby actively campaigning to have their civ in the game, or that's appeased by its presence - it's just an acknowledgment by Firaxis that there are players in those countries who, while they may not care unduly whether Canada et al. are in the game in principle, will be happy to find that it is an option.
It also has the marketing value for countries and cultures that get little representation in computer games, such as Indonesia, that it may prompt local press to report on it or spread by word of mouth to people in that country who may not be aware of the game otherwise - whether or not those people care particularly whether the civ is in the game.
It's not an especially good example since I happen to come from a country whose associated civ isn't likely to be left out of the game (and is well-represented in games more generally), but I'd be just as interested in Civ whether it had England in or not, just as Total War games focused on China or Japan interest me as much as ones featuring England (or indeed English fantasy properties). I can still appreciate England being present as an option without being in any way 'nationalist' about its presence or absence.
That may be true for you, but generally it seems that pandering to modern nationalism does generate good press all around. While there are no countries campaigning to be in civ, there are posts all the time on reddit from players who would like to see their particular culture portrayed in the game. The fact is that Canadian players were ecstatic, first to see a Canadian tribe in the game, then to see Canada itself in the game. Even vicariously representing a nation or heritage seems to generate goodwill; Argentinian players were happy to see the Mapuche, New Zealanders were happy to see the Maori.
It has some positive effect on sales, even if that particular effect is incalculable. Representing a large gaming market makes it more likely for gamers in that country to buy. Representing culturally diverse people appeals to both cultural appreciation and exociticism. It's targeted, incremental sales optimization.