Susanna Ounei
Susanna Ounei was born in 1945 in Ouvéa in the Loyalty Islands Province of New Caledonia.
Her official birthdate was 15 August 1945, although later in life she found that this date may have been incorrect.
She grew up in Poindimié on the east coast of New Caledonia.
Under French colonial rule the Kanak population fell from about 70,000 in the pre-colonial era to about 26,000 in the 1980s.
The Kanaks were segregated from whites and were subject to many restrictions and impositions.
Ounei wrote that "We grew up seeing how our parents were humiliated."
Serious Kanak resistance began to develop in the 1960s and 1970s.
In response, the French government encouraged massive migration to New Caledonia to reduce the Kanaks to a powerless minority.
Nidoïsh Naisseline
Nidoïsh Naisseline (born in Guahma on Maré Island, June 27, 1945 – died June 3, 2015 in Nouméa) was a New Caledonian politician. A Kanak of the Nétché tribe, born on the island of Maré, he was an advocate of New Caledonian independence. He succeeded his father Henri as high chief of the Guahma district in 1973; on June 6, 2007, he stepped aside in favor of his son, Dokucas. He has also served in the Congress of New Caledonia. He was the leader of the Kanak Socialist Liberation.