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During the autumn month of October on Lifou island, a double-hulled canoe was set afloat in the coastal lagoon – a small act that represented a deeply symbolic moment.

It was the inaugural voyage of a ancestral vessel on Lifou in many decades, an event that assembled the island’s three chiefly clans in a exceptional demonstration of solidarity.

Activist and sailor Aile Tikoure was the driving force behind the launch. For the past eight years, he has overseen a program that seeks to restore heritage canoe building in New Caledonia.

Numerous traditional boats have been constructed in an effort designed to reconnect native Kanak communities with their oceanic traditions. Tikoure says the boats also promote the “beginning of dialogue” around maritime entitlements and ecological regulations.

Diplomatic Efforts

This past July, he visited France and conferred with President Emmanuel Macron, calling for ocean governance developed alongside and by native populations that honor their connection to the ocean.

“Forefathers always navigated the ocean. We lost that for a time,” Tikoure states. “Today we’re reclaiming it again.”

Canoes hold profound traditional importance in New Caledonia. They once symbolised mobility, interaction and family cooperations across islands, but those customs faded under colonial rule and outside cultural pressures.

Cultural Reclamation

The initiative commenced in 2016, when the New Caledonia heritage ministry was exploring how to restore heritage vessel construction methods. Tikoure collaborated with the government and following a two-year period the canoe construction project – known as Project Kenu Waan – was born.

“The biggest challenge was not harvesting timber, it was persuading communities,” he explains.

Initiative Accomplishments

The initiative sought to revive heritage voyaging practices, mentor apprentice constructors and use canoe-making to enhance cultural identity and inter-island cooperation.

Up to now, the team has created a display, released a publication and enabled the construction or restoration of nearly three dozen boats – from the far south to the northeastern coast.

Natural Resources

Different from many other Pacific islands where tree loss has diminished lumber availability, New Caledonia still has proper lumber for constructing major boats.

“There, they often employ modern composites. Here, we can still carve solid logs,” he states. “This creates all the difference.”

The vessels built under the initiative combine traditional boat forms with Melanesian rigging.

Teaching Development

Since 2024, Tikoure has also been instructing navigation and ancestral craft methods at the educational institution.

“This marks the initial occasion this knowledge are included at advanced education. It’s not theory – it’s something I’ve lived. I’ve crossed oceans on traditional boats. I’ve cried tears of joy doing it.”

Regional Collaboration

He traveled with the team of the Fijian vessel, the Fijian canoe that traveled to Tonga for the oceanic conference in 2024.

“From Hawaii to Rapa Nui, from Fiji to here, we’re part of a collective initiative,” he states. “We’re taking back the sea together.”

Policy Advocacy

During the summer, Tikoure travelled to the European location to present a “Indigenous perspective of the ocean” when he had discussions with Macron and additional officials.

Before state and foreign officials, he advocated for shared maritime governance based on Indigenous traditions and community involvement.

“We must engage local populations – particularly fishing communities.”

Modern Adaptation

Today, when navigators from various island nations – from Fiji, the Micronesian region and New Zealand – come to Lifou, they study canoes together, refine the construction and finally sail side by side.

“We’re not simply replicating the old models, we make them evolve.”

Integrated Mission

According to Tikoure, teaching navigation and promoting conservation measures are linked.

“The fundamental issue involves how we involve people: who is entitled to travel ocean waters, and who determines which activities take place on it? Traditional vessels serve as a method to begin that dialogue.”