Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 25, Number 8, 1 August 2008 — Pacific Northwest [ARTICLE]

Pacific Northwest

With a background of tall ships including the ketch Hawaiian Chieftain in the City of Victoria's Inner Harbour in British Columbia, a small group of volunteers provided infonnation to the puhlie on the history of Hawaiians to the Northwest coast of North America. Formed for the visit of the Tall Ships and the corresponding four-day Multicultural Festival in June, "Hawaiians Remembered" included families of the Mahoe 'Ohana of Vancouver Island and published authors on Hawaiians to the Northwest. The people we spoke to were very interested in knowing about the historical presence of Hawaiians here. While many had heard about the settlement of Hawaiians to the loeal Gulf Islands in the 1 800s, they were in general not familiar with other locations of settlement or the reasons they left Hawai'i. To increase that awareness, Hawaiians Remembered had a display that included pictures of Hawaiians, their famihes, a timeline of events and plaee names that included Kanaka Bay, Kanaka Bar and Kanaka Prairie. We were very fortunate to have Jean Bannan and Bmce Watson, authors of the book Leaving Paradise available to provide in-depth infonnation when needed. We spoke with hundreds of people. Our goal was to educate the puhlie, and by the numbers we spoke with and the enthusiasm received, our goal was accomplished. Larry Bell Shawnigan Lake, British Columbia, Canada