Mililani Trask

Mililani B. Trask
Member of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs Board of Trustees
Assumed office
February 24, 2022
Succeeded byKai Kahele
ConstituencyHawaiʻi Island
Personal details
Born
Mililani Bernardette Trask

1951 (age 72–73)
Honolulu, Hawaii, US
Alma materSan Jose State University (BA)
Santa Clara University School of Law (JD)
Occupation
  • Indigenous Consultants LLC (2009–Present),
  • Executive Director, Gibson Foundation (1988–2004),
  • Consultant to World Indigenous Peoples

Mililani Trask is a leader of the Hawaiian sovereignty movement, political speaker, and attorney. One of Trask's contributions to the Hawaiian sovereignty movement was her founding of Na Koa Ikaika o Ka Lāhui Hawaiʻi, a native Hawaiian non-governmental organization[1] focusing on cultural, social, and economic development, education, health, housing, land entitlements, energy, and water issues.[2]

Outside of Hawaiʻi, Trask has worked with the United Nations to aid indigenous people from around the world seeking independence. She was a member of the Indigenous Initiative for Peace, helped author the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and was elected vice chair of the General Assembly of Nations of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization.[3] For seven years, she worked and studied under the guidance of Mother Teresa of Calcutta.[4] She is the younger sister of activist and writer, Professor Haunani-Kay Trask.[1] Mililani graduated Kamehameha Schools in 1969 and earned her JD from Santa Clara University School of Law in 1978.

  1. ^ a b Tourism and indigenous people: a resource guide. Ecumenical Coalition on Third World Tourism. 1995. p. 12. OCLC 35021069.
  2. ^ "U.S. Department of the Interior Native Hawaiian Organization Notification List" (PDF). U.S. Department of the Interior. Office of Native Hawaiian Relations. Retrieved October 4, 2013.
  3. ^ Tsai, Michael (July 2, 2006). "Mililani Trask". The Honolulu Advertiser. Retrieved February 4, 2010.
  4. ^ Burchett, Elisa (November 22, 2006). "Elisa Burchett asks, 'Will African Group Proposal Derail Entire Indigenous Declaration Process?'". U.N. Observer. Archived from the original on November 7, 2007. Retrieved February 4, 2010.