Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 31, Number 8, 1 August 2014 — A note of mahalo from the DOI [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

A note of mahalo from the DOI

The U.S. Departments of the Interior and Justice were honored to host puhlie meetings in Hawai'i on the Department of the Interior's Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on the question of whether to facilitate the

re-establishment of a govern-ment-to-government relationship between the Federal government and the Native Hawaiian eommunity. On behalf of the federal team, I would like to express gratitude to all those who attended and participated in the meetings. These meetings were unprecedented. We witnessed more than 45 hours of testimony in 15 communities across the islands: Honolulu, Waimānalo, Wai'anae Coast, Kāne'ohe and Kapolei on O'ahu; Lāna'i; Moloka'i; Waimea and Kapa'a on Kaua'i; Hilo, Waimea and Kona on Hawai'i Island; and Hāna, Lahaina and Kahului on Maui. Hundreds of people eame to

these meetings and eame to share their perspectives. We want to reassure everyone that we not only listened, but we heard. We heard the voices of anger, but we also heard the voices of hope. We heard the

voices of eoneem for federal involvement in Native Hawaiian affairs, and we heard the voices of optimism about Native Hawaiians exercising self-governance. And we heard from people who have never attended puhlie meetings, or never imagined speaking in puhlie for the record. Fundamentally, the series of questions that the Department of the Interior has posed to the Native Hawaiian community center around whether the Secretary should create an administrative ophon for a future Native Hawaiian governing entity to seek federal recognition, if that governing entity so chooses. Currently, no such option exists for Native

Hawaiians. There is a process on the mainland for Indian and Alaska Native tribes, but Native Hawaiians are specifically excluded from that process. A few clarifications may be helpful. First, any proposed ophon would be new and unique to Native Hawaiians, separate from the process for Indian and Alaska Native tribes on the mainland, recognizing the unique history, culture and values of Hawai'i. Second, creating the option would not force anything upon Native Hawaiians; it would simply lay out a path forward for the community if a future Native Hawaiian government were to decide that it would like to pursue a government-to-government relationship with the United States. A government-to-government relationship is a powerful thing. A future Native Hawaiian government could, for instance, be able to negotiate with the state of Hawai'i as well as the United States on equal footing over the disposition of land and natural resources, preservation SEE D0I ON PAGE 10

Rhea Suh

D0I

Continued from page 4 of culture and language, enforcement of hunting, gathering and fishing rights, and the operation of health care and education systems. These are just a few examples of how state, loeal and tribal governments currently exercise their governing authorities over their citizens authorities that could be available to Native Hawaiians should they choose to exercise the option of forming a government and seeking federal recognition. While the puhlie meetings in Hawai'i are now over, there is still an opportunity to register your opinions in writing. The puhlie comment period is ongoing through Aug. 19. Lor more information, including on how to submit your eomments, please visit: www.doi.gov/ohr. We would like to thank eaeh and every individual who testified or will register their opinion in the remaining days. We appreciate all that have been willing to be a part of this process. Mahalo, Rhea Suh, Assistant Secretary, U.S. Department of the Interior To vie w an interview with Rhea Suh on the proposed rulemaking process, please visit oha.org/doi.