The Tokelauan flag consists of a yellow Tokelauan canoe and a white Southern Cross on a blue background. The canoe represents the region’s journey while the Southern Cross represents the aid it needs for that journey. The color yellow represents happiness and peace, white represents unity, and blue background represents the ocean. Tokelau is a small island territory governed by New Zealand and, as such, used the New Zealand flag to represent the region until the Tokelauan government approved a distinctive flag in May of 2008. The flag became official on September 7th, 2009.