Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 29, Number 10, 1 October 2012 — A guide to registries past and present [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

A guide to registries past and present

By Breann Nu'uhiwa 0HAChief Advocate Over the last two decades, OHA has supported three separate initiatives to register Native Hawaiians. Below is a description of those initiatives and how they connect with Kana'iolowalu - the ongoing enrollment effort of the Native Hawaiian Roll Commission.

0PERATI0N 'OHANA Operation 'Ohana began in 1989 as a worldwide enrollment eampaign for "all Hawaiians to stand up and be counted as Po 'e Hawai'i, the Hawaiian people." By 2001, Operation 'Ohana had approximately 29,000 registrants. In 2002, Operation 'Ohana closed to make way for OHA's Hawaiian Registry, but Operation 'Ohana files are still maintained by OHA and used as reference at the request of individual registrants.

HAWAIIAN REGISTRY OHA's Hawaiian Registry is open to all Hawaiians who are lineally descended from the aboriginal peoples that inhabitedthe Hawaiian Islands in 1778. In 2003, the state enacted a law (HRS § 10-19) requiring OHA to maintain a registry of all persons of Native Hawaiian ancestry. Today, the Hawaiian Registry has more than 26,000 registrants with verified Native Hawaiian ancestry. Registration applications are accepted via mail, e-mail and walkin at any OHA office.

KAU INOA Kau Inoa was a self-governance initiative started by OHA and administered by Hawai'i Maoli. Kau Inoa gave people an opportunity to declare their Native Hawaiian ancestry, their intent to participate in government reorganization, and their desire to be included on an official puhlie list. When Kau Inoa was created, it was not clear when or how the offieial puhlie list would be formed, but Kau Inoa played a key role in moving self-govemance efforts for-

ward and identifying participants. KANA'IOLOWALU Kana'iolowalu is a yearlong effort to create the official puhlie list of Native Hawaiians. According to the law that calls for the creation of the list, if your name appears on the list: (1) You and your descendants will be acknowledged by the State of Hawai'i as members of the indigenous, aboriginal, maoli people of Hawai'i, and (2) You will be eligible to participate in a convention organized by the Native Hawaiian people (not the state) where important decisions will be made about whether, when and how to reorganize a Native Hawaiian governing entity. THE C0NNECTI0N BETWEEN 0PERATI0N 'OHANA, THE HAWAIIAN REGI8TRY, KAU INOAANŪ KANA'IOLOWALU Native Hawaiians who have had their ancestry verified through Operation 'Ohana, the Hawaiian

Registry or Kau Inoa ean use that verification to prove ancestry when registering for Kana'iolowalu. In addition, because Kau Inoa and Kana'iolowalu collected similar information for a similar purpose, Kau Inoa registrants ean have their information transferred to Kana'iolowalu through a shorter registration process. Transfers will only happen at the registrant's request. Please see the letter to Kau Inoa registrants on the left hand side of this page for more information. ■

NAĪION BUILDING

REGISTRIES AT A GLANCE \

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