Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 18, Number 5, 1 May 2001 — LEKA Kālele KWO FOCUS LETTER [ARTICLE]

LEKA Kālele KWO FOCUS LETTER

About 10 years. ago an article in a major Canadian newspaper changed me. It altered the way I thought about myself, my religious beliefs and goals. What caught my attention k:ii the mention of my great-grandmother, Maiia Mahoy (Māhoe). There in black and white. her ancestry was given: First Nations and Hawaiian. That story excited me because I did not know about the First Nations ancestry or how the Hawaiian ancestry eame to be. The newspaper story set me on a path to learn about my ancestors, their names, places of birth. death and lives. 1 was propelled to research into history books and interviews, toward goals 1 had never considered. I became compu!sive. I fed on history — places, people and events. The more I read the more I need ed to know. The more I read, the more was eonfirmed. Gradually, I woke up to find another person within me. I knew why I howled in the white water waves. I understood why I am drawn to things of cedar. I began to understand myself. I wanted others to appreciate history and to understand the plaee of "kanaka" history here on the West Coast. Toward this end, 1 worked on the development of historical signs to commemorate the history of those people here. I he!ped to accomplish this by lobbying

others to create small informational signs. 1 have helped to create places of honor including areas at St. Paul's Church at Fulford Harbour and Kanaka Creek, Greater Vancouver Regional District Park, whieh commemorate that history. Through a unique partnership involving The Province of British Columbia Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks; the Office of Hawaiian Affairs; and interested individuals, historieal markcrs noting Hawaiian presence have been developed in the British Columbia Gulf lslands of PortIand and Russell Islands. These signs picture three Hawaiians: William Naukana. Johnny Palau and Mana Mahoy who onee owned or pre-enipted the.se islands. On a niotif of entwined niaple and taro leaves over a rainbow. Hawai'i's motto is inscribed: "Ua mau ke ea o ka 'āina i ka pono." Without the generosity of the people of British CoIumbia and Hawai'i, and those thut have supported the development of these islands to become park land, we, thc public woukl not have access to these idy 11 ie locations. E ola mau nā mea Hawai'i, Hawaiian ways will endure. Larry Bell Vancouver, B.C.