Submitted Hcc-waimanalo Resolution For Ahcc Convention

1 RESOLUTION NO. __________ 2 3 4 URGING THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAI‘I TO ADOPT AN 5 OFFICIAL LANGUAGES ACT SIMILAR TO THOSE ADOPTED BY CANADA AND 6 IRELAND TO ENSURE THE CONTINUED RESTORATION OF THE HAWAIIAN 7 LANGUAGE 8 9 WHEREAS, along with Hawai‘i, the list of officially multilingual countries and U.S. 10jurisdictions now numbers no fewer than 44, including Abkhazia, American Samoa, Aotearoa 11(New Zealand), Belgium, Bolivia, Burundi, Cameroon, Canada, Chad, China (Hong Kong & 12Macau), Czech Republic, Djibouti, Ecuador, Finland, Guam, both cities of Hialeah & Miami 13(Florida) and San Francisco (California), India, Israel, Iraq, Ireland, Italy, Kazakhstan, 14Kenya, Kyrgyszstan, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Northern Mariana Islands, Norway, 15Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Seychelles, Singapore, Slovenia, Somalia, 16Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom; and 17 18 WHEREAS, several other governments provide bilingual services by right for 19indigenous minorities, including Australia, England (Wales) and Mexico; and 20 21 WHEREAS, Native Hawaiian entities, be they cultural groups, civic groups, political 22groups, or religious groups have traditionally included use of the Hawaiian language in some 23form as a defining aspect of their collective identity and indigenous sovereignty; and 24 25 WHEREAS, in 1978, the general population of the State of Hawai‘i through popular 26vote for a new state constitution to include Article XII, Section 7, confirmed their support of 27the right of native Hawaiian people to maintaining traditional and customary rights, among 28which is to right use of the Hawaiian language within one’s daily life, as well as to include 29Article X, Section 4, confirming their support of special promotion of the teaching of the 30Hawaiian language in publicly supported education in Hawai‘i; and 31 32 WHEREAS, the Native American Languages Act of 1990 reversed a centuries long 33history of the United States finally recognizing the right of Native Hawaiians, Alaska Natives 34and American Indians, to give official status to their languages and use them in their own 35government, and in activities supported by the federal government, including public 36education; and 37 38 WHEREAS, the U.S. census reported a 90% growth in reported use of the Hawaiian 39language in the home between 1990 and 2000 from 14,315 to 27,160, resulting in expansion 40to 6.7% of the 401,162 Native Hawaiians within the United States reporting use of the 41Hawaiian language in their homes; and 42 43 WHEREAS, it is predicted that the numbers of Native Hawaiians reporting use of the 44Hawaiian language in the home will again double to more than 12% of all Native Hawaiians 45by the census in 2010; and 46

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1 WHEREAS, Hawaiian language education is generally perceived as if it were 2enrichment and foreign language education, and because of this perception, Hawaiian 3speaking children are yet seen as having no right to education in Hawaiian since there is 4presently no guarantee that Hawaiian speaking children may choose Hawaiian medium 5education and receive transportation to their schools; and 6 7 WHEREAS, some Hawaiian children are leaving Hawaiian immersion programs for 8fear of being inadequately prepared for acceptance into the colleges and universities of their 9choice; and 10 11 WHEREAS, fluency in Hawaiian is not a minimum qualification for employment in 12Kula Kaiapuni Hawai‘i (a Hawaiian language immersion school) and standardized testing of 13students in these schools in Hawaiian is not available (despite proof that national 14standardized tests as used in Hawai‘i are biased against minority children, even when such 15children are educated in English); and 16 17 WHEREAS, the Hawaiian Civic Clubs were originally organized through the 18Hawaiian language, and included in their organizational structure a Hawaiian language 19secretary; and 20 21 WHEREAS, the Hawaiian Civic Clubs have advocated for many of the legal 22provisions and organizational structures that have allowed individual kūpuna, mākua, ‘ōpio, 23and kamali‘i to move forward in grassroots, individually-motivated revitalization of the 24Hawaiian language; and 25 26 WHEREAS, Native Hawaiians away from the Hawaiian Islands have actively worked 27to maintain and strengthen knowledge of the Hawaiian language among their own families 28and communities by joining together as exemplified by the spread of Hawaiian Civic Clubs 29to nine states outside of Hawai‘i; and 30 31 WHEREAS, 40 years after the adoption of their Official Languages Act, Canada has 32grown from a country where English predominates to a country proud of its two official 33languages, and support for bilingualism among Canadians is at an all time high; and 34 35 WHEREAS, Article XV of the Hawai‘i State Constitution declares Hawaiian to be an 36official language “except that Hawaiian shall be required for public acts and transactions only 37as provided by law”; and 38 39 WHEREAS, an Official Language Act, upon adoption by the Hawai‘i State 40Legislature, will establish the equality of status and equal rights and privileges as to the use 41of official languages in all institutions of the legislature and government of the state; and 42 43 WHEREAS, nearly 2,000 residents of Hawai‘i, including ‘Aha Pūnana Leo and three 44public officials and candidates for State, Municipal and Office of Hawaiian Affairs offices, 45are members of Hawai‘i Bilingual which supports a Hawai‘i resident’s right to receive public 46services in either official language of Hawai‘i.

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1 2 NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Association of Hawaiian Civic 3Clubs in Convention at Makena, Maui this 7th day of November 2009, that the State 4Legislature adopt an Official Languages Act similar those adopted by Canada and Ireland to 5ensure the continued restoration of the Hawaiian language. 6 7 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Hawai‘i State Legislature adopt legislation 8that: 1) ensures respect for both English and Hawaiian as the official languages of the State 9as well as ensures equality of status and equal rights and privileges as to their use in all 10governmental institutions, in particular with respect to their use in the Legislative 11proceedings, in legislative and other instruments, in the administration of justice, in 12communicating with or providing services to the public and in carrying out the work of State, 13County and municipal institutions, 2) supports the development of Hawaiian and English 14linguistic minority communities and generally advances the equality of status and use of the 15Hawaiian and English languages within the Hawaiian Islands, 3) sets out the powers, duties 16and functions of governmental institutions and public bodies with respect to the official 17languages of the State, including the establishment of an Office of the Commissioner of 18Official Languages (and to define its functions), as well as 4) provides for the publication by 19the Commissioner of Official Languages of certain information relevant to the purposes of 20this Act and related matters. 21 22 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs, in 23Convention at Makena, Maui this 7th day of November 2009, calls upon the federal 24government of the United States to assure that, in accordance with the Native American 25Languages Act, continued efforts are made at the federal level to create polcies, structures 26and programs to assure that Native Hawaiians be supported in their use of the Hawaiian 27language (in addition to the English language) in federally funded programs for Native 28Hawaiians in the State of Hawai‘i and elsewhere; 29 30 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that a certified copy of this resolution be transmitted 31to the Governor of Hawai‘i, State Senate President, State Speaker of the House, State Senate 32Committee on Hawaiian Affairs, State House Committee on Hawaiian Affairs, Office of 33Hawaiian Affairs Chair of the Board of Trustees, Mayor of Honolulu and all County Mayors 34and Council Members of the Counties of the State of Hawai‘i, all Royal Societies, and the 35Chairs of the Boards of Trustees of the Ali‘i Trusts and Kamehameha Schools, the Sovereign 36Councils of the Hawaiian Homeland Assembly, and the members of the Hawai‘i Delegation 37in the United States Congress. 38 39 40INTRODUCED BY: Hawaiian Civic Club of Waimanalo 41REFERRED TO: ________________________ 42ACTION: ______________________________

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