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This past October on the island of Lifou, a double-hulled canoe was launched into the lagoon – a seemingly minor event that signified a deeply symbolic moment.

It was the first launch of a ancestral vessel on Lifou in living memory, an event that brought together the island’s main family lineages in a rare show of unity.

Seafarer and campaigner Aile Tikoure was behind the launch. For the last eight years, he has overseen a initiative that works to resurrect ancestral vessel construction in New Caledonia.

Numerous traditional boats have been constructed in an project intended to reunite native Kanak communities with their oceanic traditions. Tikoure explains the boats also promote the “beginning of dialogue” around sea access rights and environmental policies.

Global Outreach

In July, he travelled to France and met President Emmanuel Macron, advocating for maritime regulations developed alongside and by Indigenous communities that recognise their relationship with the sea.

“Our ancestors always navigated the ocean. We forgot that knowledge for a time,” Tikoure says. “Now we’re finding it again.”

Canoes hold deep cultural significance in New Caledonia. They once represented travel, trade and clan alliances across islands, but those traditions diminished under colonisation and religious conversion efforts.

Cultural Reclamation

This mission commenced in 2016, when the New Caledonia heritage ministry was looking at how to reintroduce ancestral boat-making techniques. Tikoure collaborated with the government and two years later the vessel restoration program – known as the Kenu Waan initiative – was born.

“The hardest part wasn’t cutting down trees, it was gaining local support,” he says.

Program Successes

The initiative worked to bring back heritage voyaging practices, train young builders and use boat-building to strengthen community pride and island partnerships.

Up to now, the team has created a display, published a book and enabled the building or renovation of around 30 canoes – from Goro to Ponerihouen.

Natural Resources

Unlike many other oceanic nations where deforestation has reduced timber supplies, New Caledonia still has appropriate timber for crafting substantial vessels.

“There, they often use marine plywood. Here, we can still work with whole trees,” he says. “That represents all the difference.”

The vessels constructed under the Kenu Waan Project combine oceanic vessel shapes with local sailing systems.

Educational Expansion

Starting recently, Tikoure has also been instructing navigation and heritage building techniques at the educational institution.

“For the first time ever these topics are taught at advanced education. It’s not theory – these are experiences I’ve lived. I’ve navigated major waters on these vessels. I’ve cried tears of joy during these journeys.”

Island Cooperation

He voyaged with the members of the Uto ni Yalo, the Fijian canoe that traveled to Tonga for the oceanic conference in 2024.

“From Hawaii to Rapa Nui, including our location, this represents a unified effort,” he says. “We’re reclaiming the sea together.”

Policy Advocacy

During the summer, Tikoure visited the European location to introduce a “Indigenous perspective of the marine environment” when he had discussions with Macron and additional officials.

Addressing official and foreign officials, he argued for collaborative ocean management based on local practices and local engagement.

“It’s essential to include them – particularly people dependent on marine resources.”

Current Development

Currently, when navigators from across the Pacific – from the Fijian islands, Micronesia and New Zealand – visit Lifou, they examine vessels in cooperation, modify the design and finally sail side by side.

“We don’t just copy the traditional forms, we help them develop.”

Comprehensive Vision

For Tikoure, teaching navigation and advocating environmental policy are interrelated.

“It’s all about how we involve people: who has the right to move across the sea, and who determines what occurs on it? The canoe serve as a method to initiate that discussion.”